Effective thermoelastic and thermal properties of unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites and their sensitivity coefficients

Abstract Three-dimensional finite element models are used to assess the accuracy of the thermoelastic and thermal properties of unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites predicted by six different micromechanical models. The six models are: simple mechanics of materials type equations, fiber substructuring model, vanishing fiber diameter model, self-consistent model, Mori-Tanaka model, and method of cells. In addition, the finite element models are used to assess the accuracy of derivatives of the effective properties, with respect to each of the constituent material properties and fiber-volume ratio, computed using the six micromechanical models. The predictions of the micromechanical and finite element models for four advanced composite material systems are compared with experimental data. The results obtained in the present study show that the predictions of the Mori-Tanaka model and the method of cells are closer to those of the finite element models than those of all the other micromechanical models.

[1]  B. Rosen.  Thermomechanical properties of fibrous composites , 1970, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[2]  George J. Dvorak,et al.  Bounds on overall instantaneous properties of elastic-plastic composites , 1988 .

[3]  B. Budiansky.  On the elastic moduli of some heterogeneous materials , 1965 .

[4]  Rajiv A. Naik,et al.  A comparison of various micromechanics models for metal matrix composites , 1989 .

[5]  Christos C. Chamis,et al.  A Unique Set of Micromechanics Equations for High-Temperature Metal Matrix Composites , 1988 .

[6]  Zvi Hashin,et al.  Theory of fiber reinforced materials , 1972 .

[7]  Cliff J. Lissenden,et al.  Comparison of micromechanical models for elastic properties , 1992 .

[8]  A review of thermal conductivity in composite materials , 1987 .

[9]  Subra Suresh,et al.  Chapter 10 – Continuum Models for Deformation: Metals Reinforced with Continuous Fibers , 1993 .

[10]  G. Dvorak,et al.  Plasticity Analysis of Fibrous Composites , 1982 .

[11]  Pappu L. N. Murthy,et al.  Towards the development of micromechanics equations for ceramic matrix composites via fiber substructuring , 1992 .

[12]  Tungyang Chen,et al.  The effective thermal conductivity of composites reinforced by coated cylindrically orthotropic fibers , 1990 .

[13]  S. Utku,et al.  Finite element analysis of elastic-plastic fibrous composite structures , 1981 .

[14]  Rodney Hill,et al.  Theory of mechanical properties of fibre-strengthened materials: I. Elastic behaviour , 1964 .

[15]  J. D. Eshelby.  The determination of the elastic field of an ellipsoidal inclusion, and related problems , 1957, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[16]  G. Tandon,et al.  The transverse coefficient of thermal expansion of a unidirectional composite , 1991 .

[17]  Christos C. Chamis,et al.  Assessment of Simplified Composite Micromechanics Using Three-Dimensional Finite-Element Analysis , 1986 .

[18]  Richard Schapery.  Thermal Expansion Coefficients of Composite Materials Based on Energy Principles , 1968 .

[19]  C. Chamis,et al.  Critique on Theories Predicting Thermoelastic Properties of Fibrous Composites , 1968 .

[20]  K. Tanaka,et al.  Average stress in matrix and average elastic energy of materials with misfitting inclusions , 1973 .

[21]  C. C. Chamis,et al.  Simplified composite micromechanics equations for hygral, thermal and mechanical properties , 1983 .

[22]  J. Aboudi.  Mechanics of composite materials - A unified micromechanical approach , 1991 .

[23]  R. Kriz,et al.  Elastic moduli of transversely isotropic graphite fibers and their composites , 1979 .

[24]  I. Daniel,et al.  Determination of in-plane and out-of-plane shear moduli of composite materials , 1990 .

[25]  Jacob Aboudi,et al.  Micromechanical Analysis of Composites by the Method of Cells , 1989 .