Homogenized In-Plane Elastic-Viscoplastic Behavior of Long Fiber-Reinforced Laminates

Abstract

In this work, the homogenized elastic-viscoplastic behavior of long fiber-reinforced laminates under in-plane loading is predicted by taking into account the microscopic structure and stacking sequence of laminae. A homogenization theory of nonlinear time-dependent composites is applied to such laminates, leading to the macroscopic rate-type constitutive equation of laminates and the evolution equations of microscopic and average stresses in each lamina. The macroscopic constitutive equation is shown to have a stiffness tensor and a stress relaxation function which are evaluated explicitly in terms of the microscopic structure and stacking sequence of laminae. The established theory is then verified by performing in-plane uniaxial tensile tests of unidirectional, cross-ply, and quasi-isotropic carbon fiber/epoxy laminates. It is thus shown that the theory predicts successfully the anisotropic viscoplasticity of unidirectional and cross-ply laminates and the negligible viscoplasticity of quasi-isotropic laminates.