Unified micromechanical model for estimating elastic, elasto-plastic and strength behaviors of knitted fabric reinforced composites

This work presents a unified micromechanical model for estimating the three -dimensional elastic, elasto-plastic, and strength properties of a plain we ft knitted fabric reinforced composite. A bridging matrix is used to correl ate the stresses generated in fiber and matrix phases in a representative v olume element (RVE) of the composite. With this bridging matrix, the stress in each constituent phase is explicitly expressed as a function of the ove rall applied stress and all the mechanical properties of the composite art: easily derived from the knowledge of the physical and geometric propel tie s of the constituents. The total stress-strain behavior of the composite is obtained based on the stress-strain behaviors of the constituent materials . The composite strength is then defined as the overall applied stress corr esponding to which the maximum normal stress in either the fiber or the mat rix attains its ultimate value. Good correlation between theoretical and ex perimental results has been found.