In this paper we study the effective elastic moduli of composite materials
and explore the possibility of reducing the number of independent variables
. More specifically we consider the results for the effective planar elasti
c moduli of composites containing circular inclusions. We assume that the i
nterface between the matrix and inclusions is either perfectly bonded or is
allowed to slip, and we employ the Mori-Tanaka theory (T. Mori, K. Tanaka,
Acta Metall. 21 (1973) 571: Y. Benveniste. Mech. Mater. 6 (1987) 147) to a
ccount for inclusions' interaction. In the analysis we use a recent result
in plane elasticity due to Cherkaev et al. (A. Cherkaev, K. Lurie, G.W. Mil
ton, Proc. R. Sec. A 438 (1992) 519) and Dundurs constants (J. Dundurs. J.
Comp. Mater. 1 (1967) 310: J. Dundurs. J. Appl. Mech. 36 (1969) 650). (C) 2
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