Notes on the Stiffness Tensor and Material Symmetries

I. Stiffness Tensor with 81 Components: The stiffness tensor (or its inverse the compliance tensor) has 81 components as a fourth order tensor. II. Stiffness Tensor with 36 Components: In applying the tensor product
= C : C

The symmetry of the stress and strain tensors reduce the number of independent components to 36, allowing the product to be expressed in engineering notation as a matrix multiplication:
xx C1111 yy C2211 zz C3311 = yz 2C2311 xz 2C1311 xy 2C1211 C1122 C2222 C3322 2C2322 2C1322 2C1222 C1133 C2233 C3333 2C2333 2C1333 2C1233 2C1123 2C2223 2C3323 2C2323 2C1323 2C1223 2C1113 2C2213 2C3313 2C2313 2C1313 2C1213 2C1112 xx 2C2212 yy 2C3312 zz 2C2312 yz 2C1312 xz 2C1212 xy

Which can be written more simply as:

xx C11 yy C21 zz C31 = yz C41 xz C51 xy C61 C12 C22 C32 C42 C52 C62 C13 C23 C33 C43 C53 C63 C14 C24 C34 C44 C54 C64 C15 C25 C35 C45 C55 C65 C16 xx C26 yy C36 zz C46 yz C56 xz C66 xy

III. Fully Anisotropic Stiffness Tensor: By an assumption concerning the strain energy (which is related to the potential energy) it can be shown that the stiffness tensor expressed in engineering notation is a symmetric 6x6 matrix and therefore, that there are 21 independent components in what is identified as a fully anisotropic material:
xx C11 yy C12 zz C13 = yz C14 xz C15 xy C16 C12 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C13 C14 C23 C24 C33 C34 C35 C36 C34 C44 C45 C46 C15 C25 C35 C45 C55 C56 C16 xx C26 yy C36 zz C46 yz C56 xz C66 xy

IV. Orthotropic Material Symmetry: In the event that there are three mutually perpendicular planes of symmetry, then it can be shown that there are only 9 independent components of the stiffness tensor in what is termed an orthotropic material. For example, if the planes of symmetry of unit normals in the x, y, and z directions, then:
xx C11 yy C12 zz C13 = yz 0 xz 0 xy 0 C12 C22 C23 0 C13 C23 C33 0

0 0 0 C44 0 0

0 0 0 0
C55

0 0

0 0

0 xx 0 yy 0 zz 0 yz 0 xz C66 xy

V. Transversely Isotropic Material Symmetry: In addition to having three mutually perpendicular planes of symmetry, if one of those planes is also a plane of isotropy (i.e., in that plane the material response is equivalent in all directions), then there are only 5 independent components of the stiffness tensor in what is termed a transversely isotropic material. For example, if the planes of symmetry of unit normals in the x, y, and z directions, and if the plane of isotropy is normal to the x-axis (i.e. the y-z plane), then:
xx C11 yy C12 zz C12 = yz 0 xz 0 xy 0 C12 C22 C23 0 0 0 C12 C23 C22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 C66 0 0 xx 0 yy 0 zz 0 yz 0 xz C66 xy

( C22 C23 )
0 0

VI. Isotropic Material Symmetry: If every plane is a plane of isotropy, then there are only 2 independent components of the stiffness tensor in what is termed an isotropic material:
xx C11 C12 C12 C yy 12 C11 C12 zz C12 C12 C11 = 0 0 yz 0 xz 0 0 0 0 0 xy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 xx 0 yy zz 0 0 yz xz 0 ( C11 C12 ) xy 0

( C11 C12 )
0 0

( C11 C12 )
0

Or in terms of the compliance of an isotropic material we may write:

 xx S11 S yy 12 zz S12 = yz 0 xz 0 xy 0

S12 S11 S12 0 0 0

S12 S12 S11 0 0 0

0 0 0

0 0 0 0

( S11 S12 )
0 0

( S11 S12 )
0

xx 0 yy zz 0 0 yz xz 0 ( S11 S12 ) xy 0

Or expressing the components of the compliance tensor in terms of the Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio (obtainable from a uniaxial bar test), we may write:
1 E xx E yy zz E = yz 0 xz xy 0 0 E 1 E E 0 0 0 E E 1 E 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 xx yy 0 zz 0 yz xz 0 xy (1 + ) E 0

(1 + )
E 0 0

(1 + )
E 0

Which can alternatively be expressed in terms of the shear modulus, G , using the relationship that: 1 + 1 xy = ( S11 S12 ) xy = S44 xy = xy = xy E 2G So that E G= 2 (1 + )