You can select the materials from which the composite is to be
made from the pull down menus, and enter a volume fraction and an
orientation in the boxes provided. Clicking the (CALCULATE) button
will determine the elastic properties for the specific orientation
that you selected and plot out them out for all orientations.
In some cases the properties values are often plotted in polar
format where the orientation is represented by an angular deviation
from the horizontal axis and the property value is the radial
distance from the origin. Note: a perfectly homogeneous material
(same properties in all directions) would be shown as a circle on
this type of plot.
Polar plot showing the elastic modulus as a function of
orientation. Modulus is relative to 0° modulus. Glass -
Polyester.
Notice how quickly the modulus drops off as the angle increases by
only a few degrees from the '1-2' axis
Return to Class Index. Back to Previous class. Forward to Calculating Stress and Strain in oriented fibre composites.