The combination of materials to form a new material system with enhanced material properties is a well documented historical fact. For example, the ancient Jewish workers during their tenure under the Pharaohs used chopped straws in bricks as a means of enhancing their structural integrity. The Japanese Samurai warriors were known to use laminated metals in the forging of their swords to obtain desirable material properties. Even certain artisans from the Mediterranean and Far East used a form of composite technology in molding art works which were fabricated by layering cut paper in various sizes for producing desired shapes and contours.

Introduction To Composite Materials

In this review, the physical properties of composite materials are discussed; however, discussion of the mechanical properties has been excluded except when necessary for the consideration of properties such as thermal expansion or swelling and shrinkage. One of the main aims in the review has been to show how the theoretical and experimental information that is already available may be used (a) to design and construct composite materials with predetermined physical properties and (b) to ensure that the physical properties of composite materials are properly measured and properly defined.

The physical properties of composite materials

Exact solutions for laminated cylindrical shells in cylindrical bending

https://www.civil.iitb.ac.in/~tkant/papers/TKant-IITB-JP057.pdf

A critical review and some results of recently developed refined theories of fiber-reinforced laminated composites and sandwiches

A finite-element analysis technique which includes the effects of transverse shear deformation and is readily adaptable to arbitrary laminated plates is described. The discrete element employed is a rectangle with 28 degrees-of-freedom which include extension, bending, and transverse shear deformation states. The displacement formulation is based on a refined theory for laminates which allows the deformed normal to rotate to include transverse shear deformations. Results for plate deformations and internal stress distributions, including transverse shear stresses, are shown to compare quantitatively with the theory of elasticity for selected example problems. Additional results for laminate deformation behavior are in good agreement with the shear deformation theory of Ambartsumyan. The method described can easily be incorporated into existing matrix analysis schemes which can then be used with confidence in analyzing advanced composite structures.

Lee R. Calcote

Papers

The analysis of laminated composite structures