Mechanics of multidirectional carbon-carbon composite materials (1)-abstract

This chapter describes the mechanics of analyzing carbon-carbon composite materials from the structural analyst’s point of view. The peculiarities of CC material as well as their influences upon the material behavior are discussed. Many assumptions must be made regarding some of the material parameters; an intelligent approach to making those assumptions is presented.

Material models for evaluating thermoelastic properties of fiber composite materials having a spatial distribution of fiber orientations are discussed. The approach is to construct a material model with a finite number of fiber orientations in a repeating unit cell. This basic material model is a mini-mechanical model based upon the concept that a material system can be regarded as an assemblage of unit cells.

Symbols:

E_A    modulus in axial fiber direction, Msi

E_T    modulus in transverse fiber direction, Msi

Ez    composite modulus in a fiber z direction, Msi

G_A    fiber axial shear modulus, Msi

△l/l_A  thermal expansion in axial fiber direction

△l/l_T   thermal expansion in transverse direction

v_AT    Poisson’s ratio in axial direction

v_TT    Poisson’s ratio in transverse direction