Elastic moduli of the composite filled with discontinuous carbon fibers were analyzed theoretically and compared with experimental results. The solution procedure was formulated based upon the Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method and a kind of smearingout method proposed by the authors. Numerical calculations were conducted on carbon fiber/nylon 66 composites. Carbon fiber was assumed to have transversely isotropic elasticity, and the orientation distribution of fibers was assumed to be uniaxial, plane random or space random. Effects of the volume fraction, aspect ratio and orientation distribution of fibers on the effective elastic moduli of the composites were investigated theoretically. In experiments, thin plate specimens were heat-compression-molded from the nylon 66 pellets filled with discontinuous carbon fibers (TORAYCA pellets 3001T15 and 3001T30). Initial Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of the specimen were measured by uniaxial tensile test. Experimental results were in good agreement with theoretical results obtained by assuming the plane random orientation of fibers.
Some experiments for the determination of elastic moduli of fabric composites are conducted in order to examine the theory proposed by the authors. Comparison of theory and experiments leads to a good agreements for 8 harness satin carbon/expoxy systems. In the case of plain weave composites, there is a great discrepancy between warping constrained and unconstrained theories. Experimental results fall these two theoretical curves. Clear dependency of elastic moduli on ply number is found for plain weave. A ratio of ply thickness to thread width is also a very important parameter by which elastic moduli of plain weave composites is strongly affected. In-plane shear modulus of fabric composites is mainly determined by fiber volume fraction which is likely to be decreased corresponding to small ng. Mechanical models for the theory is basically verified by this examination.