Theoretical Determination of the Optimal Fiber

Volume Fraction and Fiber-Matrix Property

Compatibility of Short Fiber Composites*
NING PAN
Division of Textiles a n d Clothing
University of California
Davis, Calijiornia 95616
Although the question of minimum or critical fiber volume fraction, beyond
which a composite can then be strengthened due to addition of fibers, has already
been dealt with by several investigators for both continuous and short fiber
composites, a study of maximum or optimal fiber volume fraction at which the
composite reaches its highest strength has not been reported. The present analy-
sis has investigated this issue for short fiber case based on the well-known shear
lag (the elastic stress transfer) theory. Using the relationships obtained, the
minimum spacing between fibers is determined upon which the maximum fiber
volume fraction can be calculated. The effects on the value of this maximum fiber
volume fraction due to such factors as the mechanical properties of the fiber and
matrix, the fiber aspect ratio, and fiber packing forms are discussed. Furthermore,
combined with the previous analysis on the minimum fiber volume fraction, this
maximum fiber volume fraction is used to examine the property compatibility of
fiber and matrix in forming a composite. This is deemed to be useful for composite
design. Some examples are provided as well to illustrate the results.

INTRODUCTION can be incorporated into a matrix system is limited

t has been well known that if very few fibers are by the processing technology (4). It may be difficult
I added to a matrix, the material is weakened rather
than strengthened. Therefore there has to be a mini-
for fiber volume fraction to reach its theoretical maxi-
mum allowable value. Therefore, the maximum fiber
mum critical fiber volume fraction Vmi,,above which volume issue may not be as significant a s the mini-
the fiber reinforcing function can be realized. Studies mum one for practical applications. Nevertheless,
addressing this problem derived specific values of study on this subject is still desirable partly due to its
Vminfor various cases and under different conditions theoretical significance. More importantly, as shown
(1, 8, 11). On the other hand, however, as the fiber
in this article, the investigation of this issue can not
content in the matrix is being increased, the tensile only provide the maximum value of fiber volume frac-
strength of the composite will increase to a certain tion, but also determine the property compatibility of
point where, upon further increasing of fiber amount, various fiber and matrix materials for composite de-
the bonding between the fibers and the matrix will sign so as to achieve optimum composite strength
start to deteriorate a s the fibers become too close to and full material usage.
each other. As a result, for a short-fiber composite, The present study deals with this problem based on
the tensile strength will decline due to the bond a shear strength criterion within the composite. The
failure of the system caused by excessive fibers. effects of fiber length and fiber orientation are also
Therefore there will be a maximum value of fiber investigated.
volume fraction a s well, that being the upper limit of THE MINIMUM ALLOWABLE SPACING
fiber amount allowable in the system for reinforce- BETWEEN FIBERS IN A SHORT FIBER
ment. COMPOSITE
There have been no reported studies on this maxi-
mum value of fiber volume fraction, as far as the It has been a well known mechanism that when a
present author is aware. This may be due mainly to fiber composite is under a uniaxial tension, the axial
the fact that, in most cases the fiber amount which displacements in the fiber and in the matrix will be
different because of the differences in tensile proper-
*Presented at the V. Conference on Advanced Engineering Fibers and
ties of these two components. As a result, shear
Textile St ructures for Composite, Raleigh. N.C., October 1991. strains will be created on all planes parallel to the

POLYMER COMPOSITES, APRIL 1993, Vol. 14, No. 2 85

 Ning Pan

axes of the fibers. The shear strain and the resulting - -x

A _--
shear stress are the primary means by which load is
transferred to fibers (for a short fiber composite), or e

distributed between and supported by the two com-

ponents of composites. It is through this interaction
between fibers and matrix that fiber reinforcing func-
tion is realized. There have been several theories try-
ing to explain this fiber-matrix interaction. The first
one was entirely based on elastic mechanism prc-
posed by Cox ( 3 ) in 1952, and is now referred to as
the shear lag theory, and another similar version was
later proposed by Rosen (12). Since then, a number
of new theories were suggested such as the slip the- (cl A fiber W i t h nearest npuare-packed
ldJDi'tms* b4tw.'n fib*r Ondm

neighbor.
ory (7) to account for matrix plasticity at the fiber
surface near the fiber ends, applicable to well-bonded Fig. 1 . Fiber embedded in a matrix and$ber packing forms.
reinforced metals, and the theory of frictional sliding
(7) to reinforced polymers and ceramics. In the pres-
where
ent study, the model of the elastic stress transfer is
used as the main theoretical basis. As it will be
shown, although this theory explains the behavior of
composites at low stress, it provides adequate infor-
B=IJQ( j
r Ef Zn(R/r)

mation to determine the maximum fiber volume frac-

tion for design purposes. Furthermore the analysis and G,,, is the shear modulus of the matrix. Note that
CT= 0 at x = 0, and I .
will be helpful in the later attempt to look into the
case of inelastic interaction. The maximum stress occurs at the middle of posi-
Assumptions made in this analysis include: tion x = 1/2 as

1. Since the elastic model is used here, conclusions

from the present analysis are valid only if the
original assumptions associated with this model
hold.
2. The composite consists of identical short fibers, I t can be seen from Eq 3 that for given fiber strain,
each with length 1, circular cross-section area Af and fiber and matrix properties, the fiber-fiber spac-
of uniform radius r, and tensile modulus Ef. ing R is the key factor in determining the magnitude
3 . All fibers are distributed uniformly along the length of the tensile stress.
of the composite so that the fiber area fractions on If T is the shear stress in the direction of the fiber
all the cross sections of the composite are con- axis, on planes parallel to this axis, then at the fiber
stant. surface we have also due to Cox (3)
4. Both fibers and matrix behave elastically, and the
interface transfers the stress between fibers and
matrix without yielding or slipping.
5. Fiber ends are all normal so that the shape effect
of fiber end on the stress transfer (6) is excluded
in this analysis.
6. Furthermore, the fiber-fiber interaction within the The maximum value of T occurs at the fiber ends, i.e.
composite and the effect of matrix property change at x = 0 and 1
as a result of the fiber interfering with dislocation
motion in the matrix are also ignored.
Take the mean fiber center-to-center spacing normal
to their length to be 2 R (see Fig. 1). Assume the
rmax=E E
d Grn
2Ef l n ( R / r ) tanhp-2
1
(5)

composite as a whole is subject to a strain E , which and it is zero at the middle of the fiber.
will cause a strain cf in a fiber. If P is the load in the The ratio of the maximum value of shear stress to
fiber at a distance x from the fiber end, then accord- the maximum tensile stress in the fiber is
ing to Cox (31, the distribution of tensile stress in this
arbitrary fiber is

This ratio is of great importance as it represents the

fiber and matrix properties as well as the fiber spac-
ing R within the matrix, and is independent of com-
posite strain. It is therefore a property indicator of the

86 POLYMER COMPOSITES,APRIL 1993, Vol. 14, No. 2

 Theoretical Determination of the Optimal Fiber Volume Fraction

composite. The validity of Eqs 1-6 has been verified This is a transcendental equation for Rmin/r, and
by several experimental studies (6,7).

-
its solution can only be calculated numerically.
In reinforcing the composite to its maximum tensile However if the fiber length is relatively long so that
strength, the tensile strength of fibers has to be fully coth ,8 1/4 1, we then have an explicit relationship
utilized. In other words, a stress equal to the tensile between the fiber spacing ratio and the fiber-matrix
breaking stress of the fibers gbf must be reached at properties
the middle of the fibers, i.e., (T=
, abf.So Eq 6 can
be rearranged into
(9)

(Tbf d 2 E f l Gm
1
n ( R/r) cothp-4 (7) or

This equation gives the relationship between fiber

spacing R (or the spacing ratio R/r) and the maxi-
mum value of shear stress. When R decreases, the In this analysis, the effect of stress transfer across
value of T, will increase as shown in Fig. 2. The the fiber ends, which will cause an extra load on both
minimum spacing Rmiil is thus determined when fiber and matrix in this region, is neglected, because
T , , , ~ has
~ been increased to the shear strength of the this effect has been considered insignificant (1 1) as
matrix adjacent to the interface or the shear strength long as the fiber aspect ratio l / r > 10. Also the influ-
of the fiber/matrix interface, whichever is less, desig- ence of stress concentration across the fiber ends,
nated as T ~ Because
. of the elastic assumption where which will lead to a greater shear stress (8) and will
the matrix can not deform plastically, this will cause affect the slippage behavior of the fiber ends, is ig-
either the fiber/matrix interface or the matrix to fail nored.
in shear. In addition, in the present analysis, fiber and the
Furthermore, replacing rmaxby rS and rearranging matrix are assumed as completely elastic. This is an
Eq 7 gives the following expression which governs the ideal case and only valid in practice to brittle materi-
relationship between the minimum spacing ratio als. For some cases where plastic deformation of the
RmJr and the strength ratio (Tbf/T,, the fiber aspect matrix does exist, the conclusion drawn from this
ratio l/r as well as the modulus ratio G J E f study will be a conservative one and certain modifica-
tion may be needed, since the plastic deformation of
the matrix will alleviate the shear stress. A different
model of the spacing/stress relationship will be
needed, however, for a matrix that is significantly
plastic and flows under loading, or for structures
where the effect of frictional sliding between fiber and
matrix during the stress transfer is not negligible.
THE MAXIMUM FIBER VOLUME FRACTION
IN COMPOSITES
As indicated above, since there is a minimum
Rmin/r value between fibers within a composite be-
low which the structure will collapse due to shear

2h
failure, this minimum spacing will correspondingly
define an upper limit of fiber amount which is allow-
able to be incorporated into a given matrix. Further,
2.4 the composite will reach its highest strength a t this
maximum fiber volume fraction V,,,,,, as there is

2.2 h\ maximum amount of fibers in the composite and

each is fully utilized. In other words, this maximum
fiber volume fraction is also the optimal value in
maximizing the composite tensile strength. Obviously
the specific value of V, is dependent on, besides
the parameters included in the equation, the forms of
fiber arrangement within a composite as well. In addi-
tion, for the short fiber case where fiber ends don't
meet, the maximum fiber volume fraction also varies
with the distance between fiber ends. Let us assume
this distance between the ends of two fibers in a
.R/K composite to be 2Sf as shown in Fig. Id.
Spacing Ratio The following are the two cases of fiber arrange-
Fig. 2. Maximum shear stress us. spacing ratio. ment most often encountered in a composite (11).

POLYMER COMPOSITES, APRIL 7993, Vol. 74, No. 2 87

 Ning Pan

Hexagonally Packed Fibers That is, the maximum possible fiber volume fraction
for square-packed fibers is less than that of hexagtr
The fiber arrangement of this type is schematically
nally packed case. Because of this relationship be-
shown in Fig. 1b. Suppose there are totally N fibers
within the composite. Considering the hexagonal ele- tween the two fiber packing forms, for briefness, only
the square-packed form is used in the following anal-
ment with the area enclosed by the dotted line in Fig.
Ib, and according to the definition of fiber volume
ysis.
fraction of a composite, we have the maximum fiber Note that when the effect of fiber orientation is
volume fraction in this case considered, the fiber arrangement may not be as
regular as the two examples shown here. Conse-
'fiber 3" r2 1 quently the value of the actual maximum fiber vol-
ume fraction may be lower than the present results.
THE MINIMUM FIBER VOLUME FRACTION
IN COMPOSITES
In the following analysis, ebf' ebm, and eyrn repre-
sent the fiber breaking strain, the matrix breaking
For the case when the fiber length is so long as 1 >> 6J strain, and the matrix yield strain.
that the fiber end effect can be neglected,the expres- In a composite, there are possible three cases
sion becomes ebf< eym?
2. €yrn < 'bf' €brn'
3. Ebm< EbJ.

and each of them will lead to different failure be-

Because of this direct relationship between the havior of the composite. Usually, however, the break-
maximum fiber volume fraction and the minimum ing strain of the fiber ebf is less than the yield strain
fiber spacing ratio, it will be considered equivalent in of the matrix eyrn so that only the first case is consid-
the later analysis to refer to either of them. ered here. The treatments of two other cases, how-
If all fibers were packed so closely that ever, are in principle the same.
If the variations of fiber tensile properties are ig-
nored, it is well known that the breaking strength of
the maximum fiber volume fraction would be the composite crbc is of the contributions from both
-i? fibers and the matrix, and can be expressed as in (1)
Vfrnh= __
2 6
lTbc= ?frn(' - vf> + ql%'bJvf, vf > vrntn (I9)
Square-Packed Fibers
where UbJ is the breaking strength of the fiber, and
The fiber arrangement in this case is shown in Fig.
crtm is the stress on the matrix at the breaking tensile
1 c and we have accordingly
strain of the fiber. The factors ql and qo account for
-i?r2L 1 the effects of limited fiber length for the short fiber
qrns = case, and of fiber orientation, and are often called the
1 + 2 6f)
(2 Rmin)2( length efficiency and fiber orientation efficiency fac-
(15) tors. V,, is the minimum value of the fiber volume
fraction which must be exceeded if the strength of the
For long fiber case, it becomes composite is to be given by the Law of Mixture as
shown above. The value of V,,,, has been determined
according to, for example, Kelly (8) a s

In the closely packed case, there would be

"
5 r n S = -
4
where ubrnis the breaking strength of the matrix.
It can be seen by comparing Eq 1 1 and 15 that in For a continuous fiber composite where all fibers
either of the two packing forms, the value of maxi- are aligned in the loading direction, there will be
mum fiber volume fraction monotonically increases
as the fiber spacing decreases. The relationship of or 7
" 1, qfl=1
the difference between the maximum fiber volume
fractions of these two packing forms is given by and we then have

88 POLYMER COMPOSITES, APRIL 1993, Vol. 14, No. 2

 Theoretical Determination of the Optimal Fiber Volume Fraction

DETERMINATION OF THE FIBER LENGTH ditions. Partial fiber alignment is typical in injection
EFFICIENCY FACTOR and transfer molded composites, while planar partial
I t has been claimed (9) that in the post-cracking random orientation is typical in sheet molding com-
stage the combined effect due to short fiber length pounds ( 2 ) . Therefore for most cases, variation of
and fiber orientation cannot be simply calculated as fiber orientation is unavoidable and has to be in-
the product of the length efficiency factor and the cluded in the study. There have been several reports
orientation efficiency factor because the orientation (2, 5, 13,14) dealing with fiber orientation spreading.
efficiency factor is also a function of the fiber length. A more explicit form of the expression of this fiber
For the elastic model of pre-cracking stage as in the orientation efficiency factor is obtained in the present
present case, these two factors can be considered study.
independent of each other and can hence be deter- Form of Fiber Orientation Density Function
mined separately.
The length efficiency factor, specifying the effect of Since it is impractical to deal with fibers of different
a definite length of fibers in short fiber composite, orientations individually, a statistical approach is
has two expressions depending on the stress interac- usually a better alternative. To do this, a known form
tion mechanisms (9). For the inelastic case, the most of the function to describe the fiber orientation proba-
common version of this fiber length efficiency factor bility density is the premise.
is expressed in terms of critical fiber length (1, 8, 9). Two cases of fiber orientation distribution are of
For elastic case, however, it can be easily determined practical importance ( 2 ) . In the case of injection
based on the tensile stress distribution. From Eq 1, molded objects, fiber orientation distribution is inde-
the average tensile stress over the length of this short pendent of the base angle if the direction of flow is
fiber can be calculated as along the composite principal axis.In sheet molding
compounds it is reasonable to assume that the short
fibers all lie within a plane and the problem is re-
duced to a two-dimensional one. In either case, by
properly arranging the coordinate system, the fiber
orientation density function can be expressed as

When fiber length 1 -+ m, it becomes

\O cis6<~/2
Therefore the fiber length efficiency factor is de-
fined as where 0 is the polar angle of a fiber with respect to
1 the composite principal axis, and ci is the limit of 6 .
tanhp-
2 Relationship Between Strains of Composite,
%=1- 1 (24)
Matrix and Fiber
05 Assume the composite as a whole is subject to a
This expression shows that, compared to the con- strain E , which will cause strain ef in the fiber and
tinuous fibers, the tensile stress on a short fiber is E , in the matrix. It has been widely accepted that as
discounted by a factor q l due to limited fiber length. the elastic stress transfer mechanism is dominant at
It is easy to prove that when 1 .+ 0, ql = 0. the pre-cracking stage, the longitudinal displace-
ments of the fiber and matrix interface are considered
DETERMINATION OF FIBER ORIENTATION geometrically compatible. In other words, the matrix
EFFICIENCY FACTOR strain will be the same as the composite strain before
In most published studies where the effect of fiber cracking. The fiber strain however is dependent on
orientation was considered, fibers were assumed ei- the fiber orientation with respect to the loading
ther all aligned in the same direction at a fixed angle direction.
with respect to the axis of the composite loading There are several approaches in finding the rela-
direction (1, 8, 111, i.e., there is no variation or spread tionship between the composite strain and fiber
existing in fiber orientation, or fibers distributed to- strain, such as the tensor transformation method
tally in random ( 3 , 9). Yet there are some other cases (10) and the affine deformation model (5). However,
a s well. as shown below, a few simple differentiation opera-
Although it is usually desirable to orient the fibers tions can also derive the same result.
in the loading direction to enhance stiffness and Let us consider a cylinder of matrix material with
strength properties, in short-fiber composites, it is height H and radius R,. Inside the matrix there is a
normally very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve fiber with length 1 and orientation 8 (see Fig. 3).
perfect alignment or completely random distribution There is a relationship between the three variables
of short fibers. The orientation distributions of fibers
in a composite are determined by the processing con- i2 = R? + H~ (25)

POLYMER COMPOSITES, APRIL 7993,Vol. 74, No. 2 89

 Ning Pan

The Result of Fiber Orientation Efficiency Factor

Once we have the relationship between fiber strain
and the overall composite strain, the average strain
on an arbitrary fiber due to its orientation can then
be calculated as

Zf = 6 E,(cos20 - vrnsin20)n(8 ) dB (31)

Bringing the distribution function into the above

I I equation gives
I /' Ec
Z - - [ Z a ( l - ~ , ) + ( l + ~ ~ ) ~ i n 2 a ] (32)
f- 4a
The overall average tensile stress on this fiber thus
becomes

Cf=qlEfZf=v E-[2a(1
E,

f4a
- vrn)+(l+ vm)sin2a]
(33)
Furthermore, because of fiber misorientation, the
I contribution of this fiber toward the composite
I strength will be discounted according to the equation
I in (9)
I
[ Vfcl = [TI[ Pfl (34)
Fig, 3. Geometrical relationships betweenfiber and matrix.
where [TI is the transformation matrix, and [ uf ] and
[ufc]are the actual fiber stress tensor and the fiber
Differentiating the both sides gives stress tensor in the orthogonal directions with re-
spect to loading direction. For the present uniaxially
2 Id1 = 2 R, dR,+ 2 H d H (26) loading case where the composite principal axis is the
I t can be further expressed as
loading direction, the above equation reduces to

ufc= Zf cos20- 2~~sin 0 cos 0 (35)

dl
_ - R: dR, +--H 2 dfi
(27)
1 l2 R, l2 H It can be easily proven from Eq 4 that

Bringing "= 0 (36)

d.€i So we have
_-
- Ec
UfC= Zf cos20 (37)
and Because of the variation of fiber orientation, the
average value of the stress over all fibers is
-
afC= (Zfcos2 On(0 ) d0
into it yields
1
== - 1 - v,)
~ ~ E ~ E , [201(
1601~
+(1 +
vm)sin2a](2a+ sin2a)
where urn represents the matrix Poisson's ratio. Note The fiber orientation efficiency factor is thus derived
that, similar to previous analyses (5, 8).the effect of as
the fiber Poisson's ratio has been excluded in the
analysis. Equation 30 has been found to be consist- 1
ent with both the experimental data and the results
%= [2a(1- .,)+(I + vrn)sin2a](2cu+sin2a)
based on other more sophisticated analytical analysis (39)
in (5).However, since the change of the fiber orienta-
tion during composite deformation is neglected in the I t can be proved that when a 3 0, vs = 1. The mini-
above analysis, it is preferable to apply the conclu- mum value of vo= (1 - u,)/4 is achieved when 01 -P
sion to small strain case. n/2.

90 POLYMER COMPOSITES, APRIL 1993, Vol. 14, No. 2

 TheoreticalDetermination ofthe Optimal Fiber Volume Fraction

THE PROPERTY COMPATIBILITY OF Vmax

FlBER AND MAT= IN COMPOSITES
Now that we have determined the maximum
(allowable) fiber volume fraction and the minimum
(necessary) fiber volume fraction, we can use these
two values to examine the fiber-matrix property
compatibility.
Obviously, for composite design with any possible
combinations of fiber and matrix, the criterion

has to be satisfied. Since these two values are deter-

mined by the properties of the fiber and matrix as
well as the spacing between fibers, Eq 40 actually
provides the restraints on the permissible values of
all these parameters in a composite. So this equation
can be used to study the fiber-matrix property com-
patibility in materials selection for a composite. 03
The easier way of using this equation is to study
Strength Ratio
the boundaries enclosed by the curves of these two
volume fractions corresponding to different parame- Fig. 4. Maximum uolumefraction us. strength ratio.
ters. Some specific examples are shown in the next
section.
Vmax
CALCULATION AND DISCUSSION
08 1

First of all, as we have had all the equations de-

scribing the relationships between the composite
structural parameters and the constituent materials
properties, a parametric study becomes possible to
show the effects of these variables. The data used for
calculation are listed in Table 1 . For generality, the
ratios of fiber and matrix properties are used wher-
ever possible. When the effect of a specific parameter
in Table 1 is investigated over the given range, other
parameters will take the typical values provided. The
results are illustrated in Figs. 4 to 10.
Figure 4 shows the effect of the Strength Ratio
ubf/7, on the values of V, at long and short fiber
lengths. As the strength ratio increases, meaning

Table 1. The Fiber Matrix Properties Used for Calculation

Item Range Typical 01
0 01 02 03
f Gm/Ef
Strength ratio - 1.5-5.0 (7) 2.4
7s Fg. 5. Maximum uolurnefraction us. modulus ratio.
Gm
Modulus ratio - 0.02-0.3 (7) 0.03
E,
I stronger fibers are used, or a weaker bonding shear
Fiber aspect ratio - 5-200 60 strength exists between the matrix and fibers, V,,,
r
(assumed) will decrease, indicating a greater spacing between
Fiber breaking strength nb, 4-20 Gpa (9) 8 Gpa fibers is required in order to maintain a stable struc-
Matrix stress difference 0.24.0Gpa 2 Gpa ture. Note that fiber length does not have significant
ubbm - *fm (assumed) effect on the result.
?r ?r
- The effect of the modulus ratio G,/EJ on V,
Fiber orientation range a 0- -
3
(assumed)
6 value is illustrated in R g . 5. It is also a monotonically
Matrix Poisson's ratio vm 0.2-0.5 (assumed) 0.3 decreasing relationship. This means that a matrix
Fiber end spacing 0.0008-0.05 0.003 with higher shear modulus or a less stiff fiber will
length ratio -
Sf
(assumed)
result in a smaller V,,, value, or require greater
I spacing between fibers. Consequently the tensile

POLYMER COMPOSITES, APRIL 1993, Vol. 74, No. 2 91

 Ning Pan

1 O'. 1-

08

0.8 a
a

i
0.4

0.1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 ' a
)
03

Fiber Orientation Range (degree)

Fig. 8. Fiber orientation range us. fiber minimum volume

I
50 1W 1.50 m I /r fraction.

Fig. 6. Length eflciency factor us. fiber aspect ratio.

Vf
0.8

w
1.1
0.7

1
0.6

0.9
0.5

0 Vm.x m Vmln
0.8 0.4

0.7 0.3

0.C 0.2

0.1
;c d r c
O.!
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.;

Fig. 9. Effects of the modulus ratio on uolurne fractions and

0.4
the property compatibility boundary defined.
10 20 30 Ul sb 80 a

Fg. 7. Relationship between orientation range and efficiency

factor. greater a value) of fiber orientation will lower the
fiber orientation efficiency factor.
Figure 8 on the other hand indicates the effect of
strength of the composite will be lower. Again there is fiber orientation range a on the value of minimum
no noticeable difference caused by fiber length. fiber volume fraction Vmin. When a becomes larger,
Figures 6 and 7 show the relationships between the value of Vminwill increase, indicating that fiber
the fiber length efficiency factor ql and the fiber as- reinforcing function is hampered due to fiber spread-
pect ratio l / r , and between the fiber orientation range ing so that more fibers are needed.
a and the fiber orientation efficiency factor 77s respec- The curves in Figs. 9 and 1 0 can be used to test
tively. As shown in the results, increasing of fiber the property compatibility between the fibers and
aspect ratio (a longer or thinner fiber) will raise the matrix. First of all, m.
9 shows the effects of the
fiber length efficiency factor, and a wider spread (a modulus ratio on the values of V,,, (the same curve

92 POLYMER COMPOSITES,APRIL 1993, Vol. 14, No. 2

 Theoretical Determination of the Optimal Fiber Volume Fraction

1
VI trix can be used a s a criterion to study the fiber
spacing effect in a composite.
For a composite made of given fiber and matrix
materials, there is an optimal spacing between fibers
at which the fiber tensile strength will be fully ex-
0.8
ploited. Moreover this optimal spacing is also the
minimum allowable spacing between fibers below
which the structure will start to disintegrate under
w loading before the fiber tensile failure. This minimum
0.6 f spacing then defines a maximum fiber volume frac-
iI tion allowable for a composite. The maximum fiber
volume fraction combined with the minimum fiber
volume fraction studied previously can be used for
0.4
composite design. Both volume fractions are found
I .
dependent on such parameters a s fiber modulus E j ,
fiber tensile strength abJ,fiber aspect ratio l / r and
fiber orientation range a, the matrix properties as
Poisson's ratio vm, shear modulus G,, and the bond-
0.2
ing shear strength T, between fiber and matrix, as
shown in this study. Consequently, these two values
of fiber volume fraction V, and V,, can be applied
to define the boundaries in determining the property
a Ilr compatibility of various combinations of fiber and
matrix types for a particular application so as to
Fig. 10. Effects of theJber aspect ratio on volume fractions optimize the result of composite design.
a n d the property compatibility boundary dejhed.
REFERENCES
1. A. Bentur and S. Mindess, in Fiber Reinforced Cement6
as the short fiber case in Fig. 5) and Vmin. Unlike tious Composites, Elsevier Applied Science, New York
V,,,,, Vmin decreases very slightly when G,/EJ is (19901.
increasing. Based on Eq 40, only those fiber and 2. T. W. Chou and S. Nomura, Fiber Sci. a n d Techn. 14,
matrix types whose G,/Ef values are greater than 279 (1980-81).
3. H. L. Cox, British J . of Appl. Phys., 3,72 (1952).
the critical value G,/Efc are compatible for being 4. P. T. Curtis, M. G. Bader, and J. E. Bailey, J. Mat. Sci.,
selected to form a properly functioning composite. In 13,377 (1978).
Fig. 10, first, the effects of l/r on both volume frac- 5. C. F. Fan and S. Hsu, J . Polyrn Sci.: Part B: Polyrn
tion values V, and Vmin can be seen, showing Phys., 27,2605 (1989).
6. C. F. Fan and S. Hsu, Macromolecules, 22, 1474 (1989).
different trends but both gradually approaching its 7. A. Kelly and G. J. Davies, Metallurg. Reuiews. 10, 1
own asymptote a s 1/r increases. On the other hand, (1965).
there is a critical value l/rc above which a feasible 8. A. Kelly and N. H. McMillan, in Strong Solids, 3rd ed.,
structure can be made. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1986).
9. V. Laws, J . Phys. D; Appl. Phys., 4, 1737 (1971).
10. L. E. Malvem, in Introduction to the Mechanics of A
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