BEHAVIOR OF Composites

Department of Mechanical Engineering Science

Advance Material Technology
UVCE Bangalore

CONTENTS
Introduction

Laminated Fiber-Reinforced

Composite Materials
Micromechanical Behavior of Lamina
Polymer Matrix Composites
Different Loading Characteristics
Comparison with Other Structural
Materials
Reference

INTRODUCTION
Composite materials have many mechanical

characteristics that are different from those of

more conventional engineering materials.
Some characteristics are modifications of
conventional materials
Others are totally new and analytical and
experimental procedure

MOST COMMON PROPERTIES ARE:

A homogeneous body has uniform properties throughout, i.e.,

the properties are independent of position in the body.

An isotropic body has a material properties that are the same
in every direction at a point in the body, i.e., the properties are
independent of orientation at a point in the body.
Bodies
with
temperature-dependent
isotropic
material
properties are not homogeneous when subjected to a
temperature gradient, but still are isotropic.
An orthotropic body has material properties that are different in
three mutually perpendicular directions at a point in the body
and further, has three mutually perpendicular planes of
material property symmetry. Thus the properties depend on
orientation at a point in the body.
An anisotropic body has material properties that are different in
all directions at a point in the body. No planes of material
property symmetry exists, again, the properties depend on
orientation at a point in the body.

With respect to composites

Composite materials are often both

inhomogeneous (or nonhomogeneous or

heterogeneous) and nonisotropic.
But some of the composites appears
macroscopically homogeneous.
-For example, laminated safety glass has
three
layers,
each
of
which
is
homogeneous and isotropic.

Approaches to study behavior of composite

Basically two approaches are made to study the behavior
of composites, they are
Micromechanics
Macromechanics
Micromechanics is the study of composite, material
behavior wherein the interaction of the constituent
materials is examined on a microscopic scale to
determine their effect on the properties of the composite
materials.
Macromechanics is the study of composite material
behavior wherein the material is presumed homogeneous
and the effects of the constituent materials are detected
only as averaged apparent macroscopic properties of the
composite materials.

Mechanical Behavior of Various

Materials

Laminated Fiber-Reinforced Composite Materials

Laminae

The basic building block a laminate is lamina which is

a flat arrangement of unidirectional fibers or woven fibers
in a matrix. Two typical flat laminae along with their
principal
material
axes
that
are
parallel
and
perpendicular to the fiber direction as shown below

Effect of Broken Fiber on Matrix and Fiber Stresses

The properties of the lamina constituents

From the above graph

LINEAR ELASTIC-Fibers
ELASTIC PERFECTLY PLASTIC-Reinforcing steel bar in concrete
ELASTIC-PLASTIC-Aluminum and Polymers
VISCOELASTIC-Resinous matrix material

Even Fibers-reinforced composites materials such as

boron epoxy and graphite are treated as linear elastic
Materials because of elastic fibers which provides major
strength and stiffness.

MICROMECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF A LAMINA

The two basic approaches to the micromechanics of
composite materials are
1. Mechanics of Materials
2. Elasticity

The mechanics of materials approach embodies

the
usual
concept
of
vastly
simplifying
assumptions regarding the hypothesized behavior
of the mechanical system.
The elasticity approach actually is at least three approaches
a. Bounding principles
b. Exact solutions
c. Approximate solutions

During these approaches the composite materials are treated as

The lamina is
Initially stress free
Linearly elastic
Macroscopically homogeneous
Macroscopically orthotropic

The fibers are

Homogeneous
Linearly elastic
Isotropic
Regularly spaced
Perfectly aligned
Perfectly bonded
The matrix is
Homogeneous
Isotropic
Linearly elastic
Void free

Macroscopically Homogeneous Lamina and Microscopically Heterogeneous Representative Volume Element

Deformation Stages of a Fiber-Reinforced Composite Material

Tensile Strength in the Fiber Direction

A unidirectional fiber-reinforced composite material
deforms as the load increases as the load increases in
the following four stages, more or less, depending on
the relative brittleness or ductility of the fibers and the
matrix:
1. Both fibers and matrix deform elastically
2. Fibers continue to deform elastically, But the matrix
deform plastically
3. Both the fibers and the matrix deform plastically
4. The fibers fracture followed by fracture of the
composite material.

Polymer Matrix Composites

Stress Strain Curve for PMC Material

Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs)

Stress-Strain Behavior of CMC

Comparison with Other Structural Materials

Tensile strength of Common Structural materials

Comparison with Other Structural MaterialsContd..

Density of Common Structural Materials

Laminated Mechanical Properties

Tensile and Compressive Properties of prepreg
Laminates

Comparison of Laminate Impact strength

References:

1. Mechanics of Composite materials, Second

Edition by Robert M. Jones
2. Mechanics of Composite Materials, Second
Edition by AUTAR K.KAW
3. Guide to Composites by SP system
4. Metal Matrix Composites: matrices and
processing by T.W. CLYNE

THANK

YOU