Experimental investigation of the strength of anisotropic materials in biaxial and triaxial compression

It is proposed that the strengths in uniaxial and uniform biaxial compression in the direction of the axes of symmetry be used as parameters. The applicability of a strength criterion in the form of a fourth-degree polynomial to glass-reinforced plastics in biaxial compression in the plane of reinforcement and the transversal plane and to wood in triaxial compression has been experimentally confirmed.S. M. Kirov Leningrad Forest Engineering Academy. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 6, pp. 991–996, November–December, 1973.     

Possibilities of a nondestructive one-parameter method of checking the strength of anisotropic glass-reinforced plastics in uniaxial compression

A nondestructive method of checking the strength of glass-reinforced plastics (GRP) in finished products is proposed. This method is based on the correlation, investigated by the authors, between the modulus of elasticity and the compressive strength determined by a standard method. Various orientations in the plane of reinforcement of glass-reinforced plastics with different ratios of the orthogonally arranged fibers are investigated. It is proposed to determine the modulus of elasticity from the propagation velocity of an ultrasonic pulse measured under conditions of one-sided access to the surface of the product."Ritm" Research-Production Association, Leningrad. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 5, pp. 909–919, September–October, 1974.     

Deformation criterion of the strength of plastics in biaxial compression

The deformation at break under uniaxial loading is taken as a criterion of the strength of an anisotropic glass-reinforced plastic in biaxial compression. Formulas are obtained for determining the breaking stresses and their limits of applicability are investigated. The calculated values of the breaking stresses are in agreement with the experimental values for both instantaneous and long-term loading.Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 276–281, 1968     

Effect of the sign of the shear stresses on the shear strength of reinforced plastics

The effect of the sign of the shear stresses on the shear strength has been investigated for a glass-reinforced plastic of the SVAM type with various ratios of the longitudinal and transverse reinforcement in shear in the plane of reinforcement in axes turned through 45° relative to the direction of reinforcement. More than 80 tubularspecimens were tested. The shear strengths T ₄₅ ⁺ and T ₄₅ ^– corresponding to shear stresses of different signs can be found from uniaxial tests in tension and compression in the direction of the reinforcement.Institute of Polymer Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Riga. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 2, pp. 262–268, March–April, 1971.     

Terminal defects in crystalline polyethylene

Conclusions 1. Possible modes of transverse movement of terminal defects in crystalline polyethylene have been investigated for the three-dimensional case. It has been found that the probability of aggregation of two columns of monovacancies by means of their transverse movement decreases rapidly with increase in the initial distance between defects.2. The process of decrease in volume of a column of vacancies during compression has been investigated. A dependence of the degree of compression of a vacancy on the angle between the external force and the plane of zigzag of the chain has been found.3. Three positions of stable equilibrium of doubling of the three-dimensional model of polyethylene containing a series of vacancies have been observed during loading of the simple shear type.For Communication 1, see [1].Institute for Polymer Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Riga. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 4, pp. 588–595, July–August, 1978.     

Inelastic deformation and fracture of disordered fiber-reinforced composites

Conclusions Simulation of the process of nonlinear deformation and failure in the structure of a unidirectional epoxy glass plastic under transverse loading has indicated that equilibrium regions of failure receiving only hydrostatic compressive loading may form. The development of this region explains the high (up to 40%) nonlinearity of deformation diagrams under transverse biaxial compressive loading. The regions of nonlinear deformation of the epoxy matrix affect less markedly the nonlinearity of the macroscopic s* diagrams. This fact and also the formation and avalanchelike propagation of regions of complete failure explain the linear form of many diagrams corresponding to tensile and shear loading in the transverse plane. The relations of the nonlinear theory of elasticity make it possible to describe with sufficient accuracy the entire set of the calculated diagrams.Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 621–628, September–October, 1993.Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 621–628, September–October, 1993.     

Transverse compression of PPTA fibers

Results of single transverse compression testing of PPTA and PIPD fibers, using a novel test device, are presented and discussed. In the tests, short lengths of single fibers are compressed between two parallel, stiff platens. The fiber elastic deformation is analyzed as a Hertzian contact problem. The inelastic deformation is analyzed by elastic-plastic FE simulation and by laser-scanning confocal microscopy of the compressed fibers ex post facto. The results obtained are compared to those in the literature and to the theoretical predictions of PPTA fiber transverse elasticity based on PPTA crystal elasticity.Presented at the 11th International Conference on Mechanics of Composite Materials (Riga, June 11–15, 2000).3TEX, Inc. 109, MacKenan Drive, Cary, North Carolina 27511, USA. Published in Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 533–544, March–April, 2000.     

Effectiveness of using hollow fibers to improve the rigidity of glass-reinforced plastics

Calculated and experimental relations between the modulus of elasticity and rigidity of unidirectional glass-reinforced plastics (GRP) and the capillarity coefficient of the hollow fiber reinforcement are presented. It is established that in calculating the flexural rigidity ratio of hollow- and solid-fiber GRP specimens of equal weight it is not permissible to neglect the mass and modulus of elasticity of the resin. The potentialities of hollow fibers as reinforcement for GRP shells subjected to external pressure are demonstrated.All-Union Scientific-Research Institute of Glass-Reinforced Plastics and Glass Fibers, Moscow Region. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 672–676, July–August, 1968.     

Deformation and strength properties of carbon-reinforced plastics in compression

The deformation and strength properties of unidirectionally reinforced carbon plastics have been experimentally investigated for uniaxial compression in the longitudinal and transverse directions and at 45° to the direction of reinforcement in both short-time and long-time tests. On the basis of the deformation properties of the components an attempt is made to describe the creep curve of the plastic in all three loading directions. The Mohr theory is used to predict the compressive strengths in the direction of reinforcement and at right angles to the reinforcement.Institute of Polymer Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Riga. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 1, pp. 29–35, January–February, 1973.     

Effect of certain technical and geometric factors on the properties of glass-reinforced plastics

Experimental data are used as the basis for a discussion of some of the technical factors affecting the strength of filament-wound glass-reinforced plastics (GRP): winding speed, tension on the glass, life of resin. A relationship between the strength of GRP and these factors is demonstrated. The effect of the thickness and diameter of the test piece on the tensile strength of GRP material is examined.Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 99–103, 1967     

Creep and long-time strength of oriented glass-reinforced plastics in interlaminar shear

The creep and long-time strength in interlaminar shear and the creep in compression in the direction of the reinforcement have been experimentally investigated for certain types of oriented glass-reinforced plastics. The specimens in the interlaminar creep tests took the form of short beams loaded in bending. The experimental creep data for shear and compression are well described by the hereditary theory with a kernel of the Abel type (shear) or in the form of a Rabotnov function (compression). If the stresses are constant in time, good agreement with experiment is also given by Findley's form of the aging theory. A deformation criterion of interlaminar shear strength is also obtained. The experimental curves and values of the creep and long-time strength constants are presented.Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 6, pp. 1003–1012, November–December, 1971.     

Limiting stresses in spatially reinforced composites with components-having different structural geometries nd elastic properties

A model which is proposed for calculating structural stresses in spatially reinforced composites and an invariant-polynomial criterion for evaluating their limiting values are used to predict the effect of the elastic and strength properties of the components and their relative content on the limiting stress-strain state of composites of different structures. Emphasis is given to tri-orthogonal and 4D cubic structures, in addition to structures with hexagonal and angle-ply fiber reinforcement schemes in the plane and perpendicular to it. The types of composite loading typical of standard tests are examined in separate numerical experiments for shear, tension, compression, and their proportional combination. A computational variant of a criterional estimate of the limiting stresses is substantiated for an anisotropic composite of variable strength. The limiting-stress surface is obtained along with contour maps showing stress isolines as a function of the properties of the components and the geometry of the structure. The maps are suitable for practical use. The cases of maximum resistance to shear, tension, compression, and combination loading of 3D and 4D composites are compared to the analogous cases for two-dimensional structures.Presented at the Ninth International Conference on the Mechanics of Composite Materials (Riga, October, 1995).Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, No. 5, pp. 616–639, September–October, 1995.     

Experimental evaluation of the strength anisotropy of a unidirectionally reinforced organic fiber-reinforced plastic

Conclusions The strength of a unidirectional organic fiber-reinforced plastic has been experimentally determined in various special cases of plane stress. An analysis of the data obtained shows that it is possible to describe the strength of the material in plane stress by means of a second-order surface equation containing linear and quadratic terms. The dependence of the strength in tension and compression on the angle between the directions of loading and reinforcement has been predicted and experimentally confirmed using the values found for the components of the strength surface tensors. The results of the study can be used to estimate the strength of multilayer organic fiber-reinforced plastics in cases where a unidirectionally reinforced layer can be taken as the basic structural element of the material.Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, No. 5, pp. 799–803, September–October, 1979.     

Yield surfaces in local strain theory

The initial yield surfaces for biaxial tension and combined tension and torsion are determined on the basis of the local strain theory. The limit surfaces of the resultant stress on a local plane in tension (torsion) are obtained. A plastic strain probability factor is introduced and its values are calculated for various loading paths.Institute of Polymer Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Riga. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 4, pp. 594–598, July–August, 1971.     

Composites reinforced with a system of three straight mutually orthogonal fibers

The effectiveness of reinforcement in direction 3 has been estimated by investigating the mechanical characteristics of two types of three-dimensionally reinforced materials differing with respect to the arrangement of the reinforcement and the fiber content in each direction. The superior transverse stiffness, shear strength, and transverse tensile strength of three-dimensionally reinforced composites based on a system of three mutually orthogonal fibers, as compared with laminated materials, is demonstrated. The theoretical values of the elastic constants, calculated from the relations of [5], are compared with the experimental data.For communication 1 see [5].Institute of Polymer Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Riga. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 6, pp. 1011–1018, November–December, 1973.     

Bending of plates made of oriented glass-reinforced plastics

A plate made of oriented glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) is treated as a regular medium with numerous anisotropic layers. The problem of bending is solved in the elastic formulation of the problem without the use of the hypothesis of undeformed normals and a preliminary specification of the law of distribution of shearing stresses in transverse planes. The important effect of shear strains on the deflections and stresses in plates of oriented GRP is illustrated in the example of a simply supported square plate with transverse isotropy. An estimate is given of the errors introduced by arbitrary specification of the law of distribution of shearing stresses.Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 129–136, 1965     

Influence of vibration on creep in glass-fiber-reinforced plastic in a complex state of stress

The author describes the method and results of tests on tubular specimens of glass-fiber-reinforced plastic for creep under simultaneous torsion (shear in the plane of reinforcement), compression, and vibration in the longitudinal direction. He finds that vibratory creep is not manifested if the amplitudes of the alternating component of the stress are up to 0.1 times the limit of short-term strength and the frequency is 20 kHz.Institute of Mechanics of Polymers, Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Riga. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 2, pp. 358–360, March–April, 1974.     

Effect of the structure of a fibrous layer on its permeability for a nonlinearly viscous fluid

The solution of the problem of the percolation of a nonlinearly viscous (with a power flow law) fluid through unit cells is used to find the dependence of the permeability coefficient of a unidirectional layer of fibers on fiber concentration, parameters characterizing the location of the fibers, and the parameters of the fluid (the exponent in the flow law) for random and regular fiber configurations in the transverse plane. It is established that the degree of nonuniformity of the pore space of the layer has a significant effect on its permeability and that this effect increases with an increase in the nonlinearity of the fluid. Data from a model experiment and computer simulation are used to describe the mechanism of transformation of the pore space by the fluid front. It is shown that consolidation of the layer also affects its permeability.Belarus State Technological University (Minsk, Belarus). Translated from Mekhanik Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 554–563, July–August, 1997.     

Structural stresses in composites reinforced with a system of anisotropic fibers

The effect of the anisotropy of the mechanical and thermophysical characteristics of the reinforcement on the temperature stresses in unidirectional composites has been investigated. The stresses near fibers forming a regular structure in the transverse plane are estimated as a function of the thermoelastic properties of the components and the structure parameters.Moscow Power Engineering Institute. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 4, pp. 728–731, July–August, 1974.     

Theoretical and experimental investigation of anisotropic damage in textile-reinforced composite structures

In the present work, a phenomenological plane-stress damage-mechanics-based model for textile-reinforced composites is presented and its predictive capability is evaluated by carrying out a series of experimental tests. Damage variables are introduced to describe the evolution of the damage state and, as a subsequence, the degradation of material stiffness. For calculating the nonlinear stress and strain distribution of complexly loaded composites with a textile reinforcement, a special emphasis has to be placed on the interaction between the fiber failure due to the stress in the fiber direction and the matrix failure due to the transverse and shear stresses. This demands the formulation of realistic failure criteria taking into account the microstructural material behavior and different fracture modes. The new failure criteria, like the fracture mode concepts, consider these fracture modes, as well as further fracture types, in the reinforcement plane. The failure criteria are based on equations for failure surfaces in the stress space and damage thresholds in determining the stiffness degradation of the composite. The model proposed was used to characterize the strength and the failure behavior of carbon-fiber-reinforced composites. For this purpose, several unidirectional and bidirectional tests were performed to determine the specific properties of the material. The specimens were investigated by using acoustic emission techniques and strain-controlled tension and torsion tests.Russian translated published in Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 791–810, November–December, 2004.