EAS4404

Assignment 1: Micromechanics of Lamina

Date: 11th November 2022
Title: The effect of fiber volume fraction on the tensile strength and stiffness

You are developing an application using unidirectional E-glass reinforced epoxy composite
with material properties shown in table below. One of your tasks is to evaluate the effect of
fiber volume fraction on the mechanical performance of a uni-directional E-glass reinforced
epoxy composite in terms of stiffness and tensile strength. To do so, you are required to
conduct tensile tests on composite configurations with varying fiber volume fraction and
determine the optimized configuration in terms of the best/highest mechanical response.
Prior to that, a theoretical analysis should be carried out to assess the mechanical
performance of the composite using the materials below. Submit your assignment in the form
of a project report. Report is due by 12 midnight, 11th November 2022.

E-glass fiber yarn Epoxy matrix (Smooth-On)

Linear Density (Tex) 100 Young's Modulus (GPa) 3.12
Young's Modulus (GPa) 76 Tensile Strength (MPa) 54.54
Tensile Strength (MPa) 3445 Density (gm/cm³) 1.10
Density (gm/cm³) 2.54 Elongation at Break (%) 2.45
Elongation at Break (%) 2.75 Viscosity(cps) 650
Softening temperature (°C) 800 Shore Hardness(D) 84

1. Based on the properties given above for both the fiber and matrix constituents, assess
the effect of the fiber volume fraction, Vf, on the Young’s modulus and tensile strength
of the composite material. Discuss your findings and limitations (validity) of the
predictions.

2. Mechanical performance can be reduced due to many factors. Among them are the lack
of spacing between fibers and compacting of fibers that reduced adhesion between fiber
and matrix and subsequently leads to inefficient load transfer and henced reduced
performance. Therefore, will be a maximum fiber volume fraction, Vf where performance
is optimized.
Assuming that the fibers are arranged in a square array,
• Conduct a literature review on the ideal spacing for sufficient matrix wetting
• Suggest the best spacing distance based on your findings and
• Propose the optimized fiber volume fraction and determine the corresponding
Young’s modulus and tensile strength.

3. Finally, you need to validate your theoretical analysis with tensile test. To do that, you
want to fabricate a rectangular composite sample with the dimensions that can
accommodate 5 samples for tensile test (please refer to ASTM D3039 for sample sizing
for 00 unidirectional fiber direction, aligned to the direction of loading). Use the fiber
volume fraction that you determine in (2). Calculate the respective mass of fiber and
epoxy that you need.