Elasto-plastic stress analysis of thermoplastic matrix composite laminatedplates under in-plane loading

Composite structures consisting of galvanized steel wire as a fiber and low density polyethylene as a thermoplastic matrix were manufactured by hot-pr ess molding. The mechanical properties were experimentally determined. The effect of orientation angle and symmetric-antisymmetric structure was inves tigated under in-plane forces. An elastic-plastic numerical solution was ca rried out using finite element modeling (FEM) for some iteration numbers. R esidual stresses and expansion of plastic zone have been illustrated in tab les and figures.