An integrated mechanics-of-materials model for the elastic stiffness of composites

Abstract

An integrated mechanics-of-materials model is developed herein for three classes of composites, namely continuous unidirectional fibre composites, particulate reinforced composites and periodically bilaminate composites. Through a judicious choice of expressing the model, a new parameter, which describes the effect of reinforcing geometry on the composite stiffness in the direction of interest, was extracted. The reinforcement parameter ranges from zero (for the lowest possible reinforcing efficiency) to unity (for the highest possible reinforcing efficiency). The reinforcement parametric values for all the three classes of composites, both parallel and transverse to the reinforcement axis-of-symmetry, are presented. Finally the possible reinforcement parameter range for unidirectional short fibre composites and aligned flake composites are suggested based upon the reinforcement parameter of the three presently considered special cases.