ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, the concept of an effective modulus was found to be essential to the development of practical engineering stress-strain relationships for composite materials. Recall that for some representative volume element (RVE) in a heterogeneous composite, the volume-averaged stresses can be related to the volume-averaged strains by the effective moduli of an equivalent homogeneous material. Chapter 2 was primarily concerned with the development and manipulation of macromechanical stress-strain relationships involving the lamina effective moduli, however, and the roles of lamina constituent materials were not examined in detail. In this chapter, we will discuss various micromechanical models for predicting the effective moduli of continuous fiber-reinforced laminae in terms of the corresponding material properties, relative volume contents, and geometric arrangements of the fiber and matrix materials. Corresponding models for predicting strength and hygrothermal properties will be presented in Chapters 4 and 5, respectively. Micromechanics of discontinuously reinforced composites, including nanocomposites, are covered in Chapter 6.
