Transition Curvature of Soft Matrix Composite Laminates during Bending

Abstract

As an Elastic memory composite (EMC) laminate is bent, the prebuckled plate theory is valid until the transition curvature at which point the postbuckled solution becomes effective. This is the point at which microbuckling is predicted to occur. From the point onward, EMC laminate follows the postbuckled solution. In this paper, a solution of the transition curvature is proposed by combining matrix shear energy with Timoshenko’s elastic foundation energy. By comparing with the intersection point of the straight line given by the prebuckled plate theory and the curve given by the postbuckled solution, the solution can be used to predict the point at which microbuckling is predicted to occur.