Experimental Determination of Strength and Stiffness

For orthotropic materials, certain basic experiments can be performed to measure the properties in the principal material coordinates. The experiments, if conducted properly, generally reveal both the strength and stiffness characteristics of the material. Recall that the stiffness characteristics are 

= Young s modulus in the 1-direction Eg = Young s modulus in the 2-direction 

Several experiments will now be described from which the foregoing basic stiffness and strength information can be obtained. For many, but not all, composite materials, the stress-strain behavior is linear from zero load to the ultimate or fracture load. Such linear behavior is typical for glass-epoxy composite materials and is quite reasonable for boron-epoxy and graphite-epoxy composite materials except for the shear behavior that is very nonlinear to fracture. 

A key element in the experimental determination of the stiffness and strength characteristics of a lamina is the imposition of a uniform stress state in the specimen. Such loading is relatively easy for isotropic materials. However, for composite materials, the orthotropy introduces coupling between normal stresses and shear strains and between shear stresses and normal and shear strains when loaded in non-principal material coordinates for which the stress-strain relations are given in Equation (2.88). Thus, special care must be taken to ensure obtaining 

Before we examine any specific tests, we need to examine the testing or measurement process itself. After all, testing is no substitute for thinkingl Tests are, quite often, subtle in their implications. Thus, we must 

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