Energy Equivalence Based Estimation of Hybrid Composites Mechanical Properties

Hybrid composites, usually combining natural and synthetic reinforcing filaments, have gained a lot of attention due to their better properties than traditional two-component materials. For structural applications of hybrid composites, there is a need to precisely determine their mechanical properties on the basis of the mechanical properties, volume fractions, and geometrical distributions of constituent materials. The most common methods, such as the rule of mixture, are inaccurate. More advanced methods, giving better results in the case of classic composites, are difficult to apply in the case of several types of reinforcement. In the present research, a new estimation method is considered, which is simple and accurate. The approach is based on the definition of two configurations: the real, heterogeneous, multi-phase hybrid composite configuration, and the fictitious, quasi-homogeneous one, in which the inclusions are "smeared out" over a representative volume. A hypothesis of the internal strain energy equivalence between the two configurations is formulated. The effect of reinforcing inclusions on the mechanical properties of a matrix material is expressed by functions of constituent properties, their volume fractions, and geometrical distribution. The analytical formulas are derived for an isotropic case of a hybrid composite reinforced with randomly distributed particles. The validation of the proposed approach is performed by comparing the estimated hybrid composite properties with the results of other methods, and with experimental data available in the literature. It is shown that a very good agreement is obtained between experimentally measured hybrid composite properties and their predictions resulting from the proposed estimation method. The estimation errors are much lower than the errors of other methods.