Assignment 4

Problem 7.1: (15 marks)

Determine if the Following Statements are True or False, why?
a) Adding plies to a laminate will always increase the axial stiffness, Ex or Ey, in either
the X or Y direction (see the lecture note for chapter 4)
b) For mechanical loading, the [A] matrix is independent of stacking sequence
c) For a balanced laminate, the D16 and D26 terms are always zero
d) The axial stiffness Ex of a (90)10 laminate is greater than the axial stiffness Ex of a
(90)4 laminate
e) A symmetric laminate will always have the same value for D11 and D22


Problem 7.2: (problem 1 in page 387 of the textbook) (25 marks)
A laminated [0/90/0/90]s carbon/epoxy beam is 1 mm thick and 20mm wide, and has 0.125mm
thick plies. The lamina properties are
( ) 1 ( ) 2 ( ) 12 ( ) 12 180GPa 1700MPa 10GPa 1400MPa 7GPa 40MPa 0.28 230MPa L L T T E

a) Determine the flexural modulus for the beam.
b) How could the flexural modulus be improved without changing the ply materials, the number
of plies, or the ply orientations?
c) Using the maximum stress criterion for each ply, determine the magnitude of the maximum
allowable bending moment that the beam can withstand. Which ply fails first?
d) What type of analysis would be required if the ply orientations are [+45/90/-45/0]s?
Problem 7.3: (problem 6 in page 388 of the textbook) (20 marks)
By expanding the [A] matrix in terms of ply stiffness show that a balanced cross-ply laminate
having equal numbers of 0 and 90o plies is not necessarily quasi-isotropic.
Problem 8.1: (problem 11 in page 389 of the textbook) (20 marks)
A [90/0/90]s laminate is fabricated from laminate consisting of isotropic fibres ( Ef=220GPa,
Poissons ratio vf =0.25) embedded in an isotropic matrix ( Em=3.6GPa, Poissons ratio vm =0.4).
Each lamina is 0.25mm thick, and the 0.01 mm diameter fibres have been precoated with a
0.00125 mm thick sizing, which is the same as the matrix material. The precoated fibres are
arranged in the closest possible packing array in the matrix. Using both micromechanics and
laminate analysis, find the laminate engineering constants Ex, Ey, Gxy, and vxy. The laminate x-
axis is parallel to the 0o lamina orientation.
Problem 8.2: (problem 17 in page 390 of the textbook) (20 marks)
A [0/90/0]s laminate consisting of AS/3501 carbon/epoxy lamiae is subjected to uni-axial laoding
along the x-direction. Use the Maximum Strain Criterion to find the loads corresponding to first
ply failure and ultimate laminate failure; then plot the load-strain curve up to failure.
For AS/3501 carbon/epoxy lamiae, the lamina engineering constants are:

(The assignment is due at 10:00am 1 November 2013)