IntroductiontoComposite

Introduction
to Composite
MaterialsandStructures
NachiketaTiwari
Nachiketa
Tiwari
IndianInstituteofTechnologyKanpur

Lecture15
BehaviorofUnidirectionalComposites

Lecture Overview
LectureOverview
Materialaxesinunidirectionalcomposites
M t i l
i
idi ti
l
it
Constituent
Constituentvolumefractionanditsrelationshipwith
volume fraction and its relationship with
compositedensity
Importanceofpredictivemethodologiesusedfor
compositematerialproperties
Predictivemodelforlongitudinalstiffness
Predictivemodelforlongitudinalstrength

Material axes in unidirectional composites

Materialaxesinunidirectionalcomposites

Alaminaisthebuildingblockofmoderncompositelaminatedstructures.

Eachlaminamayhaveinitselfmorethanonetypesoffibers.Thesefibers
may be oriented in different directions.
maybeorientedindifferentdirections.

Alaminatehasseverallayers,orlaminae.

Eachlaminamayhaveadifferent:

Thickness
Fiberorientationangle
Fibermaterial
Matrixmaterial

Understandingthemechanicalbehaviorofalaminaisthefirststepin
Understanding
the mechanical behavior of a lamina is the first step in
understandingmechanicsoflaminatedcompositestructures.

Materialaxesinunidirectionalcomposites

Alaminaisalsoknownasaply,oralayer.

Eachlayerinalaminatehasingeneralthreeplanesofmaterialsymmetry.
Because of this they exhibit orthotropic behavior
Becauseofthis,theyexhibitorthotropicbehavior.
Alaminacutacrosstheseplanesofsymmetrywillexhibitsamemechanical
properties.

Lineswhicharenormaltotheseplanesofmaterialsymmetryarecalled
materialaxes.Theseaxesandarequiteoftendesignatedas1,2
q
g
, and3
axes.TheseareshowninFig.15.1.
Axis1runsparalleltothedirectionoffibers,anditsdirectioniscalled
longitudinal direction
longitudinaldirection.
Axis2runsnormaltoaxis1,butintheplaneoflamina.Directionassociated
withaxis2iscalledtransversedirection.Axis3runsnormaltoaxis1andaxis
2 This is also transverse direction
2.Thisisalsotransversedirection.
1,2and3arealsoknownasprincipalmaterialdirections.

Materialaxesinunidirectionalcomposites
Giventhefactthatfibersstrengthandstiffnessissignificantly
larger than that of the matrix a lamina is stiffest and
largerthanthatofthematrix,alaminaisstiffestand
strongestinlongitudinaldirection.
Further,in2and3directionsitsmechanicalpropertiesare
,
p p
roughlythesame.Infact,alaminasmechanicalpropertiesin
anydirectionlyinginthe23planearequitesimilar.
Forthisreason,aunidirectionallaminaisconsideredastransversely
isotropic,i.e.itisisotropicinthe23plane.

The
Thethicknessofatypicalcarbonorglassfiberplyis0.127
thickness of a typical carbon or glass fiber ply is 0 127
mm.Thisthicknessdependsonnumberoffilamentsinatow.
Insuchplies,fiberdiametermaybeapproximately10
p ,
y
pp
y
microns.Eachplymaybeconstructedofyarns orrovings.
TheseareshowninFig.15.2.
Ayarnisacollectionoflongcontinuousandinterlockedfibers.
Arovingisanarrowandlongbundleofseveralfibers.

Materialaxesinunidirectionalcomposites

Fig.15.2
Roving(left)andYarn(right)
Fig.15.21
P i i lM t i lA
PrincipalMaterialAxesina
i
UnidirectionalLamina

FailureinIsotropicv/sTransverselyIsotropic
Materials

Inisotropicmaterials,failurepredictionrequirescalculatingprincipal
st esses o st a s a d co pa g t e to a o ab e st ess/st a
stressesorstrainsandcomparingthemtoallowablestress/strainlimits
ts
prescribedforthematerial.

Innonisotropicmaterials(e.g.transverselyisotropicmaterials),this
approachdoesnotwork.
Thenotionofprincipalstressmakesnosenseforthesematerialsasmaterial
p
p
strengthchangeswithdirection,andthedirectionofprincipalstressmaynot
inmostofthecasescoincidewithdirectionofmaximumstrength.

Thus,forunidirectionalmaterials,weevaluateallowablestressfieldin
contextofdifferentstrengthsofmaterialinprincipalmaterialdirections.
Theseare:
Th
Longitudinaltensilestrength
Longitudinalcompressivestrength
Inplaneshearstrength

Lateraltensilestrength
Lateralcompressivestrength

FailureinIsotropicv/sTransverselyIsotropic
Materials
These
Thesefivematerialstrengthparametersforunidirectional
five material strength parameters for unidirectional
compositesarefundamentalmaterialpropertiesofalamina.
Experimentaldatashowsthatthesematerialstrength
propertiesofaunidirectionallaminaaremutually
independent,particularlyatmacroscale.
Hence,ifweareabletocalculatestressfieldina
unidirectionallaminausing123axesasreferenceframe,
thenwecanpredictfailureinsuchlamina.
h
di f il
i
hl i

VolumeandMassFraction
Therelativeproportionsoffiberandmatrixhaveasignificant
influenceonthemechanicalpropertiesofcompositelamina.
Theseproportionscanbeexpressedeitherasvolumefractions,
orasmassfractions.Whilemassfractionsareeasiertoobtain
d
duringfabricationofcomposites,volumefractionsarehandier
f b
f
l
f
h d
intheoreticalanalysesofcomposites.
Ifv
If c,vm,andv
d f,arevolumesofcomposite,matrix,andfiber,
l
f
it
ti
d fib
respectively,thenvolumefractionofmatrix(Vm)andfiber(Vf)
are defined below.
aredefinedbelow.
Vm =vm/vc

and

Vf =vf/vc

where, vc=vm +vf

Andifmc,,mm,,andmf,,aremassesofcomposite,matrix,and
p
,
,
fiber,respectively,thenmassfractionofmatrix(Mm)andfiber
(Mf)aredefinedbelow.
Mm=Mm/Mc

and

Mf=Mf/Mc

where, mc=mm +mf

VolumeandMassFraction
Usingvolumefractionswecannowcalculatetheoveralldensity
ofthecomposite.Ifm,f,andc aredensitiesofmatrix,fiber
andcomposite,respectively,thendensityofcomposite(c)can
becalculatedasshownbelow.
mc=mm +mf
cvc= mvm +f vf

Dividingthisrelationbyvolumeofcomposite,wecanwrite:
c= mvm /v
/ vc +
+ f vf/ vc
c= mVm +f Vf

(Eq.15.1)

Similarly,wecanalsodeveloparelationforcompositesdensity
intermsofweightfractionsanddensitiesoffiberandmatrix.

What you learnt in this lecture?

Whatyoulearntinthislecture?
Materialaxesofalamina,andthenotionoftransverseisotropy
M t i l
f l i
d th
ti
ft
i t
Howtocalculatedensityofacomposite,usingvolumeandmass
fractionvalues.
The
Therationaleunderlyingdevelopmentofpredictivemethodologies
rationale underlying development of predictive methodologies
forestimatingcompositematerialproperties
Relationstopredictlongitudinalmodulusofaunidirectionallamina
Relations to predict longitudinal modulus of a unidirectional lamina
Relationstopredictstrengthofunidirectionallamina
Differentfailurecriterionforaunidirectionallaminawhich
undergoes pure uniform tension
undergoespureuniformtension

R f
References
1.

Analysis and Performance of Fiber Composites, Agarwal,

B D and
B.D.
d Broutman,
B t
L J.,
L.
J John
J h Wiley
Wil & Sons.
S

2
2.

Mechanics
M
h i off Composite
C
i Materials,
M
i l Jones,
J
R M.,
R.
M McGraw
M G
Hill.

3.

Engineering Mechanics of Composite Materials, Daniel, I.

M and Ishai,
M.
Ishai O.,
O Oxford University Press.
Press