Presidential Young Investigator Award: Micro-Mechanics of Fiber-Reinforced Composites

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The mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced composite materials will be studied theoretically within the framework of continuum mechanics. Emphasis will be placed on exploring the microscopic origins of macroscopic properties such as stiffness, strength, and toughness. Microscopic origins include the properties of the constituent fibers and matrix, their geometry, and the extent to which they are bonded to one another. In fact, the degree of bondedness will constitute a major theme around which much of the proposed work revolves. Alterations in the fiber-matrix bond have been thought to affect toughness significantly. In particular, degradation of the bond frequently leads to increased toughness in brittle matrix-systems. Response to the question, What effect does such degradation have on stiffness in, say, discontinuous fiber systems? and to similar questions requires a means of incorporating the degree of bond degradation as a parameter into continuum-analyses of relevant mechanics problems. Various means will be explored, and a number of key problems in which the fiber-matrix interface plays a significant role will be studied.