Generalized elastic constants

Both x and y have equal status in the equation and, thus, any function of (x, p) is a solution, i.e., functions of the form M=g(x, vf) are solutions. For example, these solutions would include z", z ", log z, exp z, sin z, etc., where z=x vt. These various solutions represent stress pulses, sound waves or wave packets running down the rod at a velocity v. Clearly, it is now important to relate the generalized elastic constant c to the elastic constants discussed earlier in the chapter. 

The s are then the generalized elastic constants. The third and fourth order s are directly proportional to the matrix elements for the three- and four-phonon processes respectively. 

Example 3. The mean free path of electrons scattered by a crystal lattice is known to iavolve temperature 9, energy E, the elastic constant C, the Planck s constant the Boltzmann constant and the electron mass M. (see, for example, (25)). The problem is to derive a general equation among these variables. 

In Section 2.2, the stress-strain relations (generalized Hooke s law) for anisotropic and orthotropic as well as isotropic materials are discussed. These relations have two commonly accepted manners of expression compliances and stiffnesses as coefficients (elastic constants) of the stress-strain relations. The most attractive form of the stress-strain relations for orthotropic materials involves the engineering constants described in Section 2.3. The engineering constants are particularly helpful in describing composite material behavior because they are defined by the use of very obvious and simple physical measurements. Restrictions in the form of bounds are derived for the elastic constants in Section 2.4. These restrictions are useful in understanding the unusual behavior of composite materials relative to conventional isotropic materials. Attention is focused in Section 2.5 on stress-strain relations for an orthotropic material under plane stress conditions, the most common use of a composite lamina. These stress-strain relations are transformed in Section 2.6 to coordinate systems that are not aligned with the principal material... 

For interpreting indentation behavior, a useful parameter is the ratio of the hardness number, H to the shear modulus. For cubic crystals the latter is the elastic constant, C44. This ratio was used by Gilman (1973) and was used more generally by Chin (1975) who showed that it varies systematically with the type of chemical bonding in crystals. It has become known as the Chin-Gilman parameter (H/C44). Some average values for the three main classes of cubic crystals are given in Table 2.1. 

The Halpin-Tsai equations represent a semiempirical approach to the problem of the significant separation between the upper and lower bounds of elastic properties observed when the fiber and matrix elastic constants differ significantly. The equations employ the rule-of-mixture approximations for axial elastic modulus and Poisson s ratio [Equations. (5.119) and (5.120), respectively]. The expressions for the transverse elastic modulus, Et, and the axial and transverse shear moduli, Ga and Gf, are assumed to be of the general form... 

The coefficients Cn are called elasticity constants and the coefficients Su elastic compliance constants (Azaroff, 1960). Generally, they are described jointly as elasticity constants and constitute a set of strictly defined, in the physical sense, quantities relating to crystal structure. Their experimental determination is impossible in principle, since Cu = (doildefei, where / i, and hence it would be necessary to keep all e constant, except et. It is easier to satisfy the necessary conditions for determining Young s modulus E, when all but one normal stresses are constant, since... 

Generally, the elastic properties of crystals should be described by 36 elasticity constants Cit but usually a proportion of them are equal to zero or are interrelated. It follows that in crystals, the tensors (2.6) and (2.7) are symmetric tensors, owing to which the number of elastic compliance coefficients is reduced, e.g., in the triclinic configuration, from 36 to 21 (Table 2.1). With increasing symmetry, the number of independent co-... 

Thus, we may give a good description of a linear viscoelastic material in terms of relaxed, and unrelaxed elastic constants and a distribution of relaxation times (- this is not necessarily the same distribution for each elastic constant ). These all have to be found from experiments. In general it is possible to find some of the relaxed and unrelaxed elastic constants and to estimate the distribution of relaxation times. 

The three elastic constants are the Frank elastic constants, called after Frank, who introduced them already in 1958. They originate from the deformation of the director field as shown in Fig. 15.52. A continuous small deformation of an oriented material can be distinguished into three basis distortions splay, twist and bend distortions They are required to describe the resistance offered by the nematic phase to orientational distortions. As an example, values for Miesowicz viscosities and Frank elastic constants are presented in Table 15.10. It should be mentioned that those material constants are not known for many LCs and LCPs. Nevertheless, they have to be substituted in specific rheological constitutive equations in order to describe the rheological peculiarities of LCPs. Accordingly, the viscosity and the dynamic moduli will be functions of the Miesowicz viscosities and/or the Frank elastic constants. Several theories have been presented that are more or less able to explain the rheological peculiarities. Well-known are the Leslie-Ericksen theory and the Larson-Doi theory. It is far beyond the scope of this book to go into detail of these theories. The reader is referred to, e.g. Aciemo and Collyer (General References, 1996). 

Because stress and strain are vectors (first-rank tensors), the forms of Eqs. 10.5 and 10.6 state that the elastic constants that relate stress to strain must be fourth-rank tensors. In general, an wth-rank tensor property in p dimensional space requires p" coefficients. Thus, the elastic stiffness constant is comprised of 81 (3 ) elastic stiffness coefficients,... 

This is undertaken by two procedures first, empirical methods, in which variable parameters are adjusted, generally via a least squares fitting procedure to observed crystal properties. The latter must include the crystal structure (and the procedure of fitting to the structure has normally been achieved by minimizing the calculated forces acting on the atoms at their observed positions in the unit cell). Elastic constants should, where available, be included and dielectric properties are required to parameterize the shell model constants. Phonon dispersion curves provide valuable information on interatomic forces and force constant models (in which the variable parameters are first and second derivatives of the potential) are commonly fitted to lattice dynamical data. This has been less common in the fitting of parameters in potential models, which are onr present concern as they are required for subsequent use in simulations. However, empirically derived potential models should always be tested against phonon dispersion curves when the latter are available. 

In microscale models the explicit chain nature has generally been integrated out completely. Polymers are often described by variants of models, which were primarily developed for small molecular weight materials. Examples include the Avrami model of crystallization,- and the director model for liquid crystal polymer texture. Polymeric characteristics appear via the values of certain constants, i.e. different Frank elastic constant for liquid crystal polymers rather than via explicit chain simulations. While models such as the liquid crystal director model are based on continuum theory, they typically capture spatiotemporal interactions, which demand modelling on a very fine scale to capture the essential effects. It is not always clearly defined over which range of scales this approach can be applied. 

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