The transverse strain response of cross-plied bre-reinforced

ceramic-matrix composites
Eddy Vanswijgenhoven*, Martine Wevers, Omer Van Der Biest
Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, De Croylaan 2, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium
Received 11 June 1998; received in revised form 28 September 1998; accepted 5 November 1998
Abstract
A micromechanical model for the transverse strain response of cross-plied bre-reinforced ceramic-matrix composites has been
developed. The model uses dierent unit-cells to describe the composite material and takes into account all damage developing
during tensile testing. The followed approach has been assessed by comparing the simulated and experimentally observed response
of three dierent SiC
f
/CAS composites. Theory and experiment are in excellent agreement and a parametric study shows the limited
impact of the simplifying assumptions made. #1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: A. Ceramic-matrix composites (CMCs); B. Stress/strain curves; C. Computational simulation; C. Stress transfer; Transverse strain
1. Introduction
Fibre-reinforced ceramic-matrix composites (CMCs)
are of technological interest as lightweight materials for
high-temperature environments. The mechanical response
of CMCs has received considerable attention, both from
an experimental and a theoretical point of view. The
longitudinal strain response is now reasonably well-
understood (see for example Ref. [1]).
The transverse strain response (i.e. in directions per-
pendicular to the applied load) of CMCs is less well
documented and understood. Matrix cracking and
interface debonding in unidirectional CMCs generally
results in a very distinct increase in transverse strain, c
tr
[211]. The eect of transverse cracking of the 90

plies in
crossplied CMCs on the c
tr
response is not so pronounced
[2,5,6,9]; damage development in the 0

-plies on the
other hand results in a distinct increase in c
tr
[2,5,6,9].
Fig. 1 compares the c
tr
response of unidirectional and
cross-plied Tyranno F bre-reinforced barium magne-
sium aluminosilicate (SiC
f
/BMAS) [12]. The increase in
c
tr
typically occurs at lower longitudinal stresses, o, and
is less pronounced for cross-plied materials [2,6].
The transverse strain response of unidirectional
CMCs has been modelled in Refs. [8,10,11]. Their c
tr
response is governed by the Poisson contraction of the
bre and the matrix, the redistribution of mechanical
stress and the release of thermal strain upon damage
development, and the build-up of compressive radial
stresses at the bre/matrix interfaces due to the radial
mismatch after sliding of bres with a certain roughness
[10,11]. Smith and Wood [13] and Han and Hahn [14]
proposed micromechanical models for the c
tr
of cross-
plied polymeric-matrix composites (PMCs). Transverse
cracking in the 90

plies results in a redistribution of

longitudinal stresses which causes an increase in trans-
verse strain and a decrease in Poisson's ratio. These
models, developed for PMCs, can not be used for
CMCs however because they do not take into account
matrix cracking and interface debonding in the 0

-plies
of CMCs.
In this paper a micromechanical model for the c
tr
response of crossplied CMCs is proposed. The model
focuses on the prediction of the overall over-the-width
transverse strain (i.e. the one that is generally measured
using strain gauges attached to the surface) during ten-
sile loading. It is the rst to describe c
tr
throughout an
entire test, taking into account all relevant damage
mechanisms. The paper itself is organised as follows. In
Section 2 the model is described. This is followed by a
comparison between theory and experiment for three
dierent crossplied Nicalon bre-reinforced calcium-
aluminosilicate matrix composites (SiC
f
/CAS). Finally
some of the simplifying model assumptions are discussed.
Composites Science and Technology 59 (1999) 14691481
0266-3538/99/$ - see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
PII: S0266-3538(98)00186-9
* Corresponding author.
2. Model description
2.1. General assumptions
The rst step in the development of the model is the
identication, the simplication, and the description of
the dierent microstructural features and micro-
mechanical mechanisms governing the c
tr
response. The
0

and 90

plies of the cross-plied CMC are assumed to

consist of a volume fraction V
f
of homogeneously dis-
tributed, perfectly aligned bres [10,11]. The bres have
a unique radius R, are separated from the matrix by an
innitely thin bre-matrix interface, and have a surface
roughness characterised by a wavelength and an
amplitude A A -- R [10,11]. The micromechanical
mechanisms taken into account by the model are:
1. the Poisson contraction of the dierent con-
stituents,
2. the redistribution of mechanical stress and the
release of thermal strain due to transverse cracking
in the 90

plies and matrix cracking, interface

debonding,and interface sliding in the 0

plies, and
3. the changes in radial interfacial mismatch as the
rough bres slide in the matrix.
The cracks are assumed equidistant and the relation
between the transverse crack density ,
90
in the 90

plies
and the matrix crack density ,
0
in the 0

plies and the

applied stress o is assumed to be given by a three-para-
meter Weibull function [10,11,15]:
, o ,
st
1 exp
o o
m
o
norm

m

. I
,
st
is the saturation crack density, o
m
the stress at
which the rst cracks form, o
norm
a normalising para-
meter, and m is the Weibull modulus. In the case of
CMCs matrix cracks in the 0

plies form at higher

stresses than transverse cracks in the 90

plies [1,5,12].
Thus it is assumed that o
m.90
- o
m.0
. In a rst
approximation bre failure in the 0

plies is neglected
and interfacial sliding is assumed to occur against a
constant interfacial sliding stress t. These latter simpli-
fying assumptions have been shown to involve small
errors, while more realistic assumptions (e.g. Coulomb
friction) are possible at the expense of the simplicity of
the calculations [10]. Delamination cracking between
dierent plies is seldom observed during tensile loading
of crossplied CMCs [1,2,5,6,9,13] and is not considered
either.
The simplifying assumptions of the previous para-
graph allow to describe a crossplied CMC with a given
homogeneous microstructure and an evenly distributed
damage state by one compatible unit-cell. This
approach has also been successfully used to model the
c
tr
response of unidirectional CMCs [10,11]. In Section
2.2 it is explained how for o - o
m.90
the undamaged
composite material is described by a unit-cell, consisting
of an intact 0

ply and an intact 90

ply. It is shown
that, although the external stress applied to the unit-cell
is uni-axial, its internal stress state is bi-axial because of
compatibility eects. For o
m.90
- o - o
m.0
the compo-
site material is described by a unit-cell with a cracked
90

ply (Section 2.3). For o

m.0
- o a unit-cell with a
cracked 0

ply and a cracked 90

ply is used (Section

2.4). The c
tr
response of the cracked 0

ply is, as a rst

approximation, modelled making abstraction of the bi-
axial stress state in the 0

ply. The use of this one-

dimensional, axi-symmetric approximation, developed
for the c
tr
response of unidirectional CMCs [10,11], is
justied in the sense that the modes of cracking con-
sidered in the paper are not signicantly inuenced by
the presence of transverse stresses. Matrix and trans-
verse cracks are mode I cracks, while interface debond-
ing is mainly governed by mode II shear [16].
2.2. Intact composite
A large volume of undamaged crossplied CMC is
described by a unit-cell, consisting of one 0

ply with a
thickness t
0
and one 90

ply with thickness t

90
[13]. The
Fig. 1. Comparison between the monotonic transverse strain response
of unidirectional and crossplied Tyranno F silicon carbide bre-rein-
forced barium magnesium aluminosilicate (SiC
f
/BMAS). Matrix
cracking and interface debonding start at 350 MPa in unidirectional
SiC
f
/BMAS [12]. The result is a pronounced increase in transverse
strain. The rst transverse crack forms in crossplied material at
75 MPa [12]. The eect of transverse cracking on the transverse
response is not so pronounced. At 200 MPa matrix cracks form in the
0

plies of crossplied SiC

f
/BMAS, causing a strong increase in trans-
verse strain.
1470 E. Vanswijgenhoven et al. / Composites Science and Technology 59 (1999) 14691481
appropriate way of choosing t
0
and t
90
is illustrated in
Fig. 2. For symmetric lay-ups with 0

and 90

plies with
one specic thickness, the choice of t
0
and t
90
is
straightforward. For composites of which the thickness
of one type of ply varies, an average value is used.
The longitudinal strain in the 0

ply c
0
and the 90

ply
c
90
are equal and given by the longitudinal strain of the
intact composite c:
c
0
c
90
c
o
E
p
. P
The rule-of-mixtures value for the Young's modulus of
an undamaged crossplied composite E
p
is only a frac-
tion of a percent lower than the value obtained using
laminated plate theory [13,17]:
E
cp

t
0
E
0
t
90
E
90
t
0
t
90
. Q
The Young's modulus of the 0

plies E
0
is calculated
from the bre volume fraction V
f
, the Young's moduli
of the bre and the matrix E
f
and E
m
, and the Poisson
coecients of the bre and the matrix v
f
and v
m
[18]. A
similar procedure exists for the Young's modulus of the
90

plies E
90
[18]. Because the present model neglects the
presence of a compliant brematrix interphase (the
bre and matrix are separated by an interface), the the-
oretically calculated value for E
90
would be an over-
estimation. In order to avoid this E
90
is experimentally
measured.
If the residual stresses at the ply level are not taken
into account, the longitudinal stresses in the 0

ply o
0
and in the 90

ply o
90
are given by:
o
0
o
E
0
E
p
o
90
o
E
90
E
p
.
R
Residual stresses at the ply level can easily be taken into
account by the present model at the expense of the sim-
plicity of the equations. However, these residual stres-
ses, arising from the dierence in the thermal expansion
coecients in a direction along the bres o
0
and in a
direction perpendicular to the bres o
90
are generally
much smaller than the intra-ply residual stresses arising
from the dierence in thermal expansion coecient of
the bre o
f
and the matrix o
m
. Schapery derived the
following equations for the expansion coecients o
0
and o
90
[19]:
o
0

o
m
E
m
1 V
f
o
f
E
f
V
f
E
m
1 V
f
E
f
V
f
o
90
1 v
m
o
m
1 V
f
o
f
V
f
.
S
In the case of CMCs o
f
and o
m
are typically quite close.
A small dierence in o
f
and o
m
generally implies that o
0
and o
90
are close as well. Even for a dierence between
the test temperature and the stress free temperature
T 1000

C, the residual stresses at the ply level in

crossplied SiC
f
/CAS are only of the order of magnitude
of 10 MPa [20,21]. The more important residual stresses
arising from the dierence in thermal expansion of bre
and matrix are however taken into account.
The longitudinal stresses in the 0

and 90

ply result
in a contraction in the directions perpendicular to the
applied stress o. The over-the-width deformation of the
dierent plies is not free. Compatibility demands that
the transverse strain is equal for the 0

and the 90

ply.
The overall over-the-width transverse strain c
tr
is calcu-
lated as follows.
First the over-the-width transverse strains are calcu-
lated for the 0

plies c
0
tr
and 90

plies c
90
tr
, not taking into
account the presence of the other ply. These `free'
transverse strains are given by:
c
0
tr
v
0
c
0
v
0
o
0
E
0
c
90
tr
v
90
c
90
v
90
o
90
E
90
T
The Poisson coecient of the 0

plies v
0
is calculated
from the constituent properties of the composite [18].
v
90
is an experimentally determined parameter, although
its value can be theoretically calculated [18]. In the fol-
lowing step the `free' transverse strain of the dierent
plies is made equal to the overall transverse strain c
tr
Fig. 2. Appropriate choice of the ply-thickness t
0
and t
90
in the unit-
cells used to describe the intact composite.
E. Vanswijgenhoven et al. / Composites Science and Technology 59 (1999) 14691481 1471
through the application of transverse stresses o
0
tr
and
o
90
tr
, with an average value equal to zero [10,11,13]:
c
tr
c
0
tr

o
0
tr
E
90
c
90
tr

o
90
tr
E
0
t
0
o
0
tr
t
90
o
90
tr
0.
U
This set of equations gives the overall over-the-width
transverse strain c
tr
of the undamaged composite. The
corresponding value of the Poisson coecient of the
undamaged composite is very close to the one calculated
using laminated plate theory [17].
2.3. Composite with transverse cracks
The proposed model describes a composite with
transverse cracks in the 90

plies by a unit-cell with an

intact 0

ply and a 90

ply with one matrix crack (Fig. 3).

The length of the unit-cell equals 2s or 1/,
90
with ,
90
the
crack density in the 90

plies.
The formation of a transverse crack in the 90

ply
leads to a redistribution of the stresses in the vicinity of
the crack. The altered stress distributions are commonly
computed through a shear-lag analysis [13,14,2224]. If
it is assumed that the longitudinal stresses in the 0

ply
o
0
x and the 90

ply o
90
x are constant over the
transverse cross-sections (i.e. their values only depend
on the longitudinal distance from the transverse crack
x), the longitudinal stress in the 90

ply after transverse

cracking is given by [13]:
o
90
x o
E
90
E
p
1
osh lx
osh ls

. V
The stress redistribution factor l is given by [13]:
l
2

[G
t
t
0
t
90
E
p
t
2
90
t
0
E
0
E
90
. W
[ is a shear-lag parameter. Its value is equal to 3 if the
longitudinal displacement across the transverse ply is
parabolic [13]. Its value is 1 for a linear variation of
displacement. G
t
is the shear modulus of the composite
material [13]. The longitudinal stress in the 0

ply o
0
x
is given by [13]:
o
0
x o
E
0
E
p

t
90
t
0
o
E
90
E
p
1
osh lx
osh ls

. IH
The longitudinal strain of the composite c equals the
longitudinal strain of the continuous 0

ply c
0
:
c c
0

s
0
o
0
x
E
0
dx
s

o
E
p

t
90
t
0
o
E
90
E
p
1
tnh ls
ls

E
0
. II
As discussed earlier for undamaged crossplied compo-
sites the transverse strain of the 0

ply c
0
tr
needs to be
equal to the transverse strain of the 90

ply c
90
tr
. Trans-
verse cracking in the 90

plies does not change this.

Compatibility is again ensured by applying transverse
stresses, with an average value equal to zero. The over-
all over-the-width transverse strain c
tr
is calculated as
follows. First the average longitudinal strain is calcu-
lated for the 0

and 90

plies. These average longitudinal

strains c
0
and c
90
are not necessarily equal since the 90

ply is cracked. The average longitudinal strain of the 0

ply c
0
, which is also the average longitudinal strain of
the composite, is given by Eq. (9). The average long-
itudinal strain of the 90

ply c
90
is given by:
c
90

o 1
tnh ls
ls

E
p
. IP
Fig. 3. Schematic representation of (a) a unit-cell with no damage, (b)
a unit-cell with a cracked 90

ply and an intact 0

ply, and (c) a unit-

cell with a cracked 90

ply and a cracked 0

ply. The load is applied in

the horizontal direction.
1472 E. Vanswijgenhoven et al. / Composites Science and Technology 59 (1999) 14691481
In the following step the transverse strains of the free 0

ply and 90

ply are calculated using Eq. (6). Finally the

overall over-the-width transverse strain c
tr
of the com-
posite is obtained from Eq. (7).
2.4. Composite with transverse cracks and matrix cracks
Matrix cracking in the 0

plies complicates the analy-

sis further. Linear changes in the longitudinal stresses in
the bre o
f
and matrix o
m
, caused by matrix cracking in
the 0

plies [25,26], need to be superimposed on the

hyperbolic changes in the 0

and 90

ply stresses, arising

from transverse cracking in the 90

plies. To accomplish
this the following approach has been developed.
The unit-cell to describe the damaged composite
consists of a cracked 0

ply and a cracked 90

ply. Its
length equals 1/,
90
and it contains one crack in the 90

ply and ,
0
,,
90
cracks in the 0

ply. It can be argued that

,
0
,,
90
has no physical meaning. A unit-cell can for
example not have half a crack in the 0

ply. ,
0
,,
90
should however be considered as an ad-hoc parameter
used in the calculation of the c
tr
response where
,
0
,,
90
- 1 is perfectly possible.
At each stress level, the average longitudinal stresses
in the 90

ply o
90
and in the 0

ply o
0
are calculated:
o
0
o
E
0
E
p

t
90
t
0
o
E
90
E
p
1
tnh ls
ls

o
90
o
E
90
E
p
1
tnh ls
ls

.
IQ
These equations are an approximation. When damage
develops in the 0

plies, the stiness deviates from E

0
and the stress redistribution between the dierent plies
is not calculated rigorously correct. However, it will be
demonstrated in Section 4 that the error is small.
Making abstraction of the bi-axial stress state in the
0

plies by assuming that interface debonding and bre

sliding only occurs under inuence of the average long-
itudinal stress o
0
, the length over which the brematrix
interfaces debond L
d
o
0

is given by [10,11,26,27]:
L
d
o
0


R
2t
o
0
V
f

E
f
E
0
o
0
S

f.x
o
f

. IR
R is the bre radius, t the constant interfacial sliding
stress, S

f.x
the longitudinal residual stress in the bre,
and o
f
the bre stress discontinuity at the debond
crack tip. o
f
can be calculated from the elastic prop-
erties of bre and matrix and the interface debond
energy
i
[27]. For
i
% 0, o
f
% 0. The thermal resi-
dual stress state in the 0

ply plays an important role in

its c
tr
response [10,11]. Most important are the long-
itudinal residual stresses in the bre and the matrix S

f.x
and S

m.x
, and the radial residual stress at the bre
matrix interface S

i.r
[10,11]. In this paper the residual
stresses are calculated for a cylinder of bre surrounded
by a cylindrical matrix shell. The equations used for the
calculation are given in Ref. [28] and are not repro-
duced here. For the calculations it is assumed that the
matrix surface is radial stress free and that S

f.x
and S

m.x
outbalance each other. Strictly speaking, the latter can
only be the case for composites with no residual stresses
at the ply level. However, because CMCs have typically
only small residual stresses at the ply level, it is expected
that this approximation does not introduce large errors.
The longitudinal strain of the composite c equals the
longitudinal strain of the bres in the cracked 0

ply.
For L
d
o
0

- 1,,
0
the interfaces are not totally debon-
ded and the longitudinal strain c is given by [10]:
c
L
d
o
0

o
0
V
f

t
R
L
d
o
0


E
f

1
2,
0
L
d
o
0


o
0
E
0
1
2,
0
. IS
For L
d
o
0

> 1,,
0
total interface debonding has occur-
red and c is given by [10]:
c
o
0
V
f

t
R
1
2,
0

E
f
. IT
Fig. 4. Schematic representation of the algorithm used to calculate the
overall transverse strain response of crossplied CMCs. At a given
longitudinal stress level o, the crack densities in the 90

and 0

plies are
calculated using Eq. (1). The next step is the calculation of the average
longitudinal stresses o
0
and o
90
. ,
0
, ,
90
, o
0
and o
90
are then used to
calculate the `free' transverse strains c
0
tr
and c
90
tr
. Eq. (7) nally gives
the overall transverse strain c
tr
.
E. Vanswijgenhoven et al. / Composites Science and Technology 59 (1999) 14691481 1473
The average longitudinal stress o
0
and the matrix crack
density ,
0
of the 0

ply are used to calculate the average

transverse strain in the 0

plies, as explained in Refs.

[10,11]. An elastic analysis reveals that the c
tr
response
of a 0

ply depends on whether the bre and the matrix

are in radial contact. Thus it rst is checked if the bre
and the matrix are in radial contact along the debonded
interface [11]:
R o
0
. x
H

5o o
0
. x
H

. IU
R is the radial mismatch caused by sliding of a rough
bre, o the debond crack opening, and x
H
the distance
from a matrix crack in the 0

ply. The radial mismatch

R depends on the relative longitudinal displacement
between the bre and the matrix u. For bres whose
surface roughness is random and small compared to R,
R o
0
. x
H

is modelled by [10,11,29]:
R o
0
. x
H

A
j u o
0
. x
H

j
,2
for j u o
0
. x
H

j 4,2
R o
0
. x
H

A for j u o
0
. x
H

j 5,2.
IV
A is the characteristic roughness amplitude of the bres
and the characteristic roughness wavelength. The
debond crack opening o is given by:
o o
0
. x
H

o
m
o
f
T v
f
o
f
o
0
. x
H

E
f
v
m
o
m
o
0
. x
H

E
m

.
IW
Note that for the calculation of c
0
tr
the distance from a
matrix crack in the 0

ply x
H
is used (Fig. 3). Because the
overall longitudinal stress in the cracked 0

ply is
assumed to be constant and to be given by Eq. (13),
c
0
tr
can be calculated by letting x
H
vary between 0 and
1/(2,
0
). If the bre and the matrix are not in radial
contact c
0
tr
o
0
. x
H

is given by [11]:
c
0
tr
o
0
. x
H

v
m
o
m
o
0
. x
H

E
m
2
V
f
1 V
f
S

i.r
E
m
v
m
S

m.x
E
m
.
PH
S

i.r
is the radial residual stress at the brematrix inter-
face. S

m.x
is the longitudinal residual stress in the matrix.
For radial contact between the bre and the matrix the
radial stress at the interface o
i.r
s
0
. x

is given by [10]:
o
i.r
o
0
. x
H

R o
0
.x
H

R

v
f
E
f
o
f
o
0
. x
H


v
m
E
m
o
m
o
0
. x
H

o
m
o
f
T
1V
f
1V
f
v
m
E
m

1v
f
E
f
PI
Fig. 5. Experimentally observed relationships between the longitudinal stress o, the longitudinal strain c, and the transverse strain c
tr
for the dif-
ferent crossplied SiC
f
/CAS composites investigated by Karandikar and Chou [6].
1474 E. Vanswijgenhoven et al. / Composites Science and Technology 59 (1999) 14691481
The free transverse strain along a debond crack with
radial contact between bre and matrix is given
c
tr.0
o
0
. x

is given by [10]:
c
0
tr
o
0
. x
H

2
V
f
1 V
f
o
i.r
o
0
. x
H

E
m
v
m
o
m
o
0
. x
H

E
m
2
V
f
1 V
f
S

i.r
E
m
v
m
S

m.x
E
m
.
PP
The average transverse strain of the 0

ply is calculated
by averaging the local transverse strains in the 0

ply as
explained in Refs. [10,11]. The relation between the average
longitudinal stress o
0
and the average free transverse
strain c
0
tr
is no longer linear [10,11]. Damage develop-
ment typically results in an increase in c
0
tr
(Refs. [10,11]).
The transverse strain of the 90

ply is still given by Eq. (6).

The overall-over-the width transverse strain c
tr
of the
composite is found by solving Eq. (7). The algorithmused
to calculate the overall c
tr
response of crossplied compo-
sites is schematically represented in Fig. 4. For each stress
level o the crack densities ,
90
and ,
0
are calculated. Eq. (13)
subsequently gives the average longitudinal stresses o
90
and o
0
. These values allow to calculate the longitudinal
Fig. 6. Comparison between the experimentally observed evolutions of the transverse crack density ,
90
in the 90

plies and the matrix crack density

,
0
in the 0

plies with longitudinal strain c and the ones used for the simulation of the response of the dierent SiC
f
/CAS composites investigated by
Karandikar and Chou [6].
E. Vanswijgenhoven et al. / Composites Science and Technology 59 (1999) 14691481 1475
strain c and the free transverse strains c
90
tr
and c
0
tr
. For
the undamaged plies and the cracked 90

ply the free

transverse strain is given by Eqs. (6), (11), and (12). To
calculate the free transverse strain of the cracked 0

ply
the procedure, developed for the c
tr
of unidirectional
CMCs [10,11], is followed. Eq. (7) nally gives the
transverse strain of the crossplied composite.
3. Comparison between experiment and theory
Karandikar and Chou [6] investigated the monotonic
over-the-width transverse strain response of three dif-
ferent crossplied SiC
f
/CAS composites. The laminate
lay-up of the investigated CMCs was equal to (0
3
,90,0
3
)
for composite 1, (0
3
,90
3
,0
3
) for composite 2 and
(0,90,0,90,0,90,0,90,0) for composite 3. Fig. 5 gives the
experimentally observed relationships between the
Fig. 7. Experimentally observed evolution of the secant Poisson's
ratio v
se
with longitudinal strain c for the dierent SiC
f
/CAS compo-
sites investigated by Karandikar and Chou [6].
Table 1
Constituent properties used for the theoretical simulation of the
transverse response of the 0

plies of the SiC

f
/CAS composites
investigated by Karandikar and Chou [6]
Basic constituent properties
V
f
0.35
E
f
(GPa) 195
E
m
(GPa) 98
v
f
0.15
v
m
0.30
R (mm) 7.5
t (MPa) 12
o
f
(MPa) 0
A (nm) 20
(nm) 500
o
f
(10
6
K
1
) 3
o
m
(10
6
K
1
) 5
T (K) 1000
Derived properties
E
0
(GPa) 132.0
v
0
0.245
S

i.r
(MPa) 92
S

f.x
(MPa) 232
S

m.x
(MPa) 125
Table 2
Constituent properties used for the theoretical simulation of the
crossplied SiC
f
/CAS composites investigated by Karandikar and Chou
[6]. The rst number refers to the (0
3
,90,0
3
) composite, the second to
the (0
3
,90
3
,0
3
) lay-up and the third to (0,90,0,90,0,90,0,90,0)
Basic constituent properties
t
0
(mm) 0.517
0.525
0.091
t
90
(mm) 0.081
0.263
0.091
[ 1
1
1
E
90
(GPa) 102
v
90
0.223
G
t
(GPa) 48
,
90.st
(mm
1
) 6
2.5
4.2
o
90.m
(MPa) 64
30
42
o
90.norm
(MPa) 130
100
100
,
0.st
(mm
1
) 8
8
9
o
0.m
(MPa) 112
78
82
o
0.norm
(MPa) 120
100
70
m
90
3
4
3
m
0
3
3
4
Derived properties
E
p
(GPa) 127.7
122.0
117.0
v
p
0.241
0.241
0.238
l (mm
1
) 8.45
3.08
10.0
1476 E. Vanswijgenhoven et al. / Composites Science and Technology 59 (1999) 14691481
longitudinal stress o, the longitudinal strain c, and the
transverse strain c
tr
. Fig. 6 gives the experimentally
observed evolution of the crack density in the 90

and
the 0

plies for the dierent composites. The c

tr
response
was quantitatively characterised by the secant Poisson's
ratio v
se
, dened as the negative of the ratio of the
instantaneous c
tr
divided by the instantaneous c. Fig. 7
gives the evolution of v
se
with c for the three dierent
composites.
The material parameters used to simulate the c
tr
response of the dierent composites are given in Tables 1
and 2. The rst table gives the parameters needed for
the simulation of the 0

plies [6,10,11]. These parameters

are the same for all composites under investigation. The
second table gives the parameters needed for the simu-
lation of the entire composite. These vary with compo-
site lay-up. R, V
f
, E
f
, E
m
, v
m
, t, G
t
, E
90
, and v
90
are
taken from Ref. [6]. v
f
, o
f
, o
m
, T, and o
f
are taken
from Refs. [7,10,30]. The Nicalon bre roughness has
been characterised using atomic force microscopy
[31,32] and the values for A and have been used to
simulate the response of unidirectional SiC
f
/CAS suc-
cessfully [10]. E
0
, v
0
, S

f.x
, S

m.x
and S

i.r
are calculated
from the constituent properties of the 0

ply [18,28]. E
p
,
v
p
, and l are calculated from the basic constituent
properties of Tables 1 and 2. For the simulation it was
Fig. 8. Comparison between the experimentally observed and theoretically predicted evolution of the secant Poisson coecient v
se
of the three
dierent composites investigated by Karandikar and Chou [6] for the constituent properties of Tables 1 and 2.
E. Vanswijgenhoven et al. / Composites Science and Technology 59 (1999) 14691481 1477
assumed that the relation between the crack density ,
and the applied stress o is given by a three-parameter
Weibull function. The experimentally observed evolu-
tion of the crack densities in the 90

and 0

plies is
compared to these used for the simulation in Fig. 6.
The experimentally observed and theoretically predicted
evolutions of the secant Poisson's ratio v
se
are com-
pared in Fig. 8. The main features of the experimentally
observed response are reproduced by the model. For all
three dierent composites the decrease in v
se
, the long-
itudinal strain range over which v
se
decreases, and the
nal value of v
se
are accurately predicted.
The model not only predicts the experimentally
observed response. It also provides explanations for the
transverse strain response. In this section the behaviour
of the (0
3
,90
3
,0
3
) composite is explained. The response of
the other composites can be explained in a similar manner.
Fig. 9(a) shows the evolution of the average longitudinal
stresses in the 90

plies o
90
and the 0

plies o
0
with
applied longitudinal strain c. After the development of
Fig. 9. Explanation of the transverse strain response of (0
3
,90
3
,0
3
) SiC
f
/CAS composite. (a) Theoretical evolution of the longitudinal stresses in the 0
plies o
0
and the 90

plies o
90
with applied longitudinal strain c. (b) Theoretical evolution of the free transverse strain of the 0

plies c
0
tr
and the 90

plies
c
90
tr
with applied longitudinal stress o. (c) Theoretical evolution of the average radial mismatch in the 0

plies R with applied longitudinal strain c. (d)

Comparison between the experimentally observed and theoretically predicted relation between longitudinal stress o and transverse strain c
tr
.
1478 E. Vanswijgenhoven et al. / Composites Science and Technology 59 (1999) 14691481
damage in the 90

plies o
90
becomes approximately con-
stant. o
0
still increases as the intact bres in the 0

plies
can take extra load. The `free' transverse strains of the
90

plies c
90
tr
and 0

plies c
0
tr
are compared in Fig. 9(b).
After damage development the `free' transverse strain of
the 90

ply remains negative and approximately con-

stant. The `free' transverse strain of the 0

ply increases
to a positive value, because of an increase in average
radial mismatch R between the bre and matrix
[Fig. 9(c)] [10,11]. Combining the `free' responses of the
90

and the 0

plies into an average transverse response

gives the response of the crossplied composite [Fig. 9(d)].
The theoretical prediction is in good agreement with the
experimentally observed response. The small `hill' in the
simulated evolution of v
se
(Fig. 8) is caused by the
simultaneous, total debonding of all brematrix inter-
faces in the simulation. In reality matrix cracks are not
perfectly equidistant and this does not occur [1,15,33].
Instead total interface debonding occurs over a stress
range, causing the `hill' to disappear. Theoretically this can
be incorporated by working with distributions of matrix
cracks spacings, as explained in Ref. [10]. This latter
falls, however, outside the scope of the present paper.
4. Discussion
The simplifying assumptions made to develop the
model for the c
tr
response of a damage 0

ply have been

discussed in Refs. [10,11]. In this section only the
assumptions used to model the c
tr
response of crossplied
material are discussed.
The rst concerns the stress redistribution caused by
transverse cracking in the 90

plies. In this paper a shear-

lag solution proposed by Smith and Wood [13] has been
used. Several other approaches do exist [14,2224]. They
are however all similar in nature. o
90
x increases with
the distance from the transverse crack x and the eect of
using other approaches on the predicted behaviour is
quite small. Fig. 10 for example compares the theore-
tical evolution of v
se
of composite 3 with c for dierent
values of the shear-lag parameter [. Changing the [
value between 1 and 3 (i.e. the extreme values suggested
in Ref. [13]) only slightly alters the model prediction.
The second assumption to be discussed is the use of
an average longitudinal stress o
0
to calculate the trans-
verse strain of the 0

ply c
0
tr
. o
0
is calculated from Eq.
(11) assuming that the 0

ply is intact. This is however

no longer the case after matrix cracking. Eq. (11) over-
estimates o
0
by not taking into account the stiness
degradation of the cracked 0

ply. The eect of this

assumption can be assessed by a studying the eect of a
change in the value of E
0
, used in Eqs. (8) and (11), on
the theoretical c
tr
response of a composite with cracks in
the 90

and 0

plies. Fig. 11 shows that the eect of a

decrease in E
0
from 132 GPa, for an intact 0

ply, to
70 GPa, for a fully cracked 0

ply, is quite limited. A

decrease in Young's modulus of the damaged 0

ply
Fig. 10. Illustration of the eect of a change in the longitudinal stress
redistribution on the theoretical response of (0,90,0,90,0,90,0,90,0)
SiC
f
/CAS. For clarity, the curves have been shifted along the v
se
axis
by 0.02 and 0.04. Changing the stress redistribution parameter [
between 1 and 3 has only a limited eect on the predicted c
tr
response.
Fig. 11. Illustration of the eect of neglecting the stiness degradation
of the 0

ply on the theoretical response of (0,90,0,90,0,90,0,90,0) SiC

f
/
CAS in the presence of transverse cracks and matrix cracks. For
clarity, the curves have been shifted along the v
sec
axis by 0.02 and
0.04. Changing E
0
between 132 and 70 GPa has only a limited eect on
the predicted c
tr
response.
E. Vanswijgenhoven et al. / Composites Science and Technology 59 (1999) 14691481 1479
lowers at the same time the Young's modulus of the
damaged composite. The result is that o
0
is only slightly
decreased; o
90
is slightly increased. Furthermore it is
theoretically possible to take into account the change in
0

ply stiness at the expense of more complex, iterative

calculations.
The third assumption concerns the use of an average
o
0
value to calculate c
0
tr
. For cracked unidirectional
materials the transverse strain increases non-linearly
with the applied stress [10,11]. In general c
0
tr
x will be
most positive close to a transverse crack in the 90

plies
because the stress in the 0

ply o
0
x is highest there.
Depending on the exact stress distributions in 90

and
0

plies the followed approach will slightly under-

estimate or overestimate the transverse strain of the
composite material. The eect of small errors in c
0
tr
can
easily be assessed by comparing the response of a
crossplied composite with a slightly dierent response of
the 0

plies. This can for example be accomplished by

changing the bre roughness amplitude A, a constituent
property with an important eect on the c
tr
response of
unidirectional CMCs [10]. Fig. 12 shows that the gen-
eral characteristics of the transverse strain response do
not change if A is changed between 15 and 25 nm. The
90

ply constraints the dierences in c

0
tr
response.
5. Conclusions
A micromechanical model describing the relationship
between longitudinal stress o and transverse strain c
tr
during tensile testing of crossplied CMCs has been pre-
sented. The model describes crossplied CMCs by dier-
ent unit-cells, each representing a damage state
characteristic for the material. It takes into account the
Poisson contraction of the dierent constituents, the
redistribution of mechanical stress and the release of
thermal residual strain due to damage development, and
the build-up of radial mismatch stresses at the bre-
matrix interfaces in the 0

plies, due to radial interfacial

mismatch after debonding and sliding.
The validity of the proposed model has been assessed
by comparing the theoretically simulated and experi-
mentally observed response of three dierent crossplied
SiC
f
/CAS CMCs. Theory and experiment are in excel-
lent agreement for the dierent sets of experimentally
determined constituent properties. In the discussion
section the simplifying assumptions, used to develop the
model, are shown to involve only small errors.
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