Bk. Sarkar, ESTIMATION OF COMPOSITE STRENGTH BY A MODIFIED RULE OF MIXTURES INCORPORATING DEFECTS, Bulletin of Materials Science, 21(4), 1998, pp. 329-333
Inadequacy of the rule of mixtures to estimate the true values of comp
osite properties having a large concentration of defects has led to nu
merous tests being performed costing time and money. Statistical avera
ge of the properties from the Weibulls distribution law has thus been
relied upon so far for the design of composite structures. Yet, to est
imate the properties of a fibre reinforced composite material having s
ufficient flaw densities due to the methodologies adopted for its proc
essing, more so for fibres, has long been appreciated. To avoid this i
nadequacy a modified rule of mixtures is developed incorporating defec
t concentration in the fibre and matrix enabling to arrive at a more r
ealistic value of the composite.