Finite plane deformation of an ideal fiber-reinforced material (experimental examination)

One of the most powerful theories to describe finite deformations of a strong fiber-reinforced rubber is the theory of continua with an internal kinematical constraint of inextensibility in the preferred direction. This ideal theory was experimentally examined by three-point bending tests, using glass fiber cloth- and synthetic fiber cloth-laminated rubbers as composite materials. In the low load range, the ideal theory represents the deformation behavior of these materials well. In the high load range, these materials no longer comply with the ideal theory (inextensibility and incompressibility). The greater the number of the cloth plies, the better the model describes the deformation for these materials. Furthermore, the method of decision of S=S(γ) was proposed and it was shown that S(γ)=G(γ+εγ³) is more suitable than S(γ)=Gγ for these materials.