Effect of Fiber Positioning on the Effective Physical Properties of Composite Materials

Abstract

Bounds that incorporate both fiber shape information — i.e., 3 shape factors — and fiber positioning information — i.e., 2 packing parameters — are derived for the transverse effective thermal conductivity of a fiber reinforced composite. Comparisons are made with the previously presented bounds by Hashin [3] and by Beran and Silnutzer [2]. An illustration is presented to demonstrate the potential utility of controlling fiber posi tioning to improve the design of a composite material.