Lecture Notes on Composite Materials: Current Topics and Achievements

Composite materials are heterogeneous by nature, and are intended to be, since only the combination of different constituent materials can give them the desired combination of low weight, stiffness and strength. At present, the knowledge has advanced to a level that materials can be tailored to exhibit certain, required properties. At the same time, the fact that these materials are composed of various, sometimes very different constituents, make their mechanical behaviour complex. This observation holds with respect to the deformation behaviour, but especially with respect to the failure behaviour, where complicated and unconventional failure modes have been observed. It is a challenge to develop predictive methods that can capture this complex mechanical behaviour, either using analytical tools, or using numerical me- ods, the ?nite element method being the most widespread among the latter. In this respect, developments have gone fast over the past decade. Indeed, we have seen a paradigm shift in computational approaches to (composite) ma- rial behaviour. Where only a decade ago it was still customary to carry out analyses of deformation and failure at a macroscopic level of observation only – one may call this a phenomenological approach – nowadays this approach is being progressively replaced by multiscale methods. In such methods it is r- ognized a priori that the overall behaviour is highly dependent on local details and ?aws.

This book presents the latest achievements in the field of composite materials modelling presented by the following authors:

- Prof. H. Altenbach (Germany)

- Prof. R. de Borst (The Netherlands)

- Prof. E. Craciun (Romania)

- Prof. R. Pyrz (Denmark)

- Prof. T.Sadowski (Poland)

The text gives a modern, up-to-date account of recent developments in the modelling of composite materials. Multiscale concepts, which are the new paradigm in (computational) mechanics, are at the heart of this text, and are treated in detail in the first three chapters of the book. Other relevant developments are covered in the later chapters of the book, beginning with the most relevant issue of coupling stress analysis and diffusion phenomena that arise from hygral and/or thermal loading, which are of crucial importance of the short and long-term resistance of composite materials.

The volume facilitates understanding of the basic principles of damage growth and fracture processes in various composite materials, including ceramics, polymers, metal-matrix composites and porous materials.