Experimental determination of elastic properties in laminate composite material orthotropic plies

The theoretical and analytical models for studying the mechanical behavior of composite materials have a great importance due to the innumerable applications in new technological developments. The use of these models requires a field of knowledge in the elastic properties of composite materials. In this paper, an inverse method is applied to obtain the average elastic constants of orthotropic composite laminates and the constants of orthotropic plies. The method uses the experimental strain analysis and the constitutive models obtained by applying classical laminate theory to three laminate composite materials formed by the orthotropic plies of reinforced epoxy resin with glass. In addition, through experimental axial loading tests and the state of strain measuring with strain gages, the global stresses and the elastic constant averages as well as the orthotropic constants of plies are determined. Finally, these elastic constants show consistency when evaluated.