Effect of fiber type on the level of stress concentration created in filleted composite rectangular bars in bending

Abstract

The effect of fiber type on the level of stress concentration created by fillets were investigated for unidirectional rectangular laminates loaded on or off-axis in bending. The finite element method was used for this purpose utilizing 4-node quadrilateral elements under plane stress conditions. Analyses were performed for three different fiber reinforcements of epoxy matrix: glass, graphite and boron. Typical material properties reported in the literature for glass/epoxy, boron/epoxy and graphite/epoxy were used in calculations.