Hybrid materials

Hybrid materials are obtained by Incorporation of two or more reinforcing agents within a single matrix, or
it may have two or more resin systems commonly called an interpenetrating network (IPN). This mixing of
different constituents makes hybrid materials a promising class of materials having diverse range of
properties.
The performance of hybrid composites is a weighted sum of the individual constituents in which there is a
more favorable balance between the inherent advantages and disadvantages. The benefits of one type of
filler could complement properties that are lacking in other types of constituents in the hybrid composites.
As a result, a balance in cost and performance could be achieved through proper material design
Properties of hybrid materials
Properties of hybrid materials can be estimated by using rule of mixture which states that Properties of
mixtures lie between the corresponding properties of the pure components and are proportional to the
volume fractions (sometimes weight or mole fractions) of the components.
Hybrid composites are mostly Polymer Matrix based composites, particularly designed for mechanical
properties; Inorganic fillers are added to polymers to increase stiffness. Stiffness is measured by modulus,
which is the slope of stress vs strain curve. All mechanical properties are usually studied on the basis of two
parameters; Stress which is the force applied per unit area of composites and Strain which is change in
shape volume or length of the composite material due to stress applied.
If stress causes a change in length it is called tensile stress If stress causes a change in volume it is called
bulk stress If stress causes a change in geometry or shape it is called shear stress So tensile stress causes
one dimensional deformation, bulk stress causes two dimensional deformation and shear stress causes
three dimensional change. The modulus, and other mechanical properties such as tensile strength and
toughness, can be measured using different parameters for example tensile and bending. Bending studies
are typically more informative for fiber-reinforced composites since this geometry provides a better test of
adhesion between the polymer and the filler, while tensile studies are more commonly used for particulate
composites, if the matrix is flexible enough to allow tensile tests.
For most systems, an increase in stiffness results in decrease in flexibility and tensile strength. Particular
commercial fillers are used for specific polymers for controlled properties at a given volume fraction. (see
graph and diagram from slide and draw here)

Plastic deformation (common property of thermoplastic polymers)

Thermoplastic polymers on application of heat initially become soft;
flexible this process is called elastic deformation. On further heating
above their melting point they melt and flow. Then upon application
of stress (pressure) they undergo plastic deformation. Elastic
deformation is the removal of secondary bonding between polymer
chains, whereas Plastic deformation is reshaping the long polymeric
chains. In last step after the removal of stress plastic deformation
remains but elastic deformation disappears (means secondary
bonding once again develops). Thermoplastic exhibit plastic
deformation While thermosetting plastic doesn’t because of cross
linking.

Rule of mixtures
The rule of mixtures (ROM) is a weighted mean used to predict the mechanical properties of composites
including the tensile performance based upon the following assumptions
(1)  One ply (ply is a sheet of hybrid material) is microscopically homogenous, linear elastic, and
orthotropic. In addition, it is initially in a stress-free state.
(2)  The filler is homogenous, linear elastic, and well-arranged regularly in space.
(3)  The matrix is also homogenous, linear elastic, and isotropic.
(4)  There are no voids, which means the fiber and matrix are completely coupled.
Based on these assumptions, the tensile performance of composite composed of filler and polymer matrix
can be obtained by combining linearly the volume fraction and the tensile properties of the fiber and the
matrix. See the equations on slide.
σ composite = σfVf +σmVm E composite = EfVf +EmVm

In the diagram on
slide, the blue box
represents Matrix and Grey box represents filler.
 σ represents tensile strength: tensile strength is the maximum stress that a material can withstand
while being stretched or pulled before breaking.
 E represents Elastic modulus or stiffness: Elastic modulus is a quantity that measures an object or
substance's resistance to being deformed elastically when a stress is applied to it.
 Where σ-composite, σf , and σm, indicate the tensile strength of composite, reinforcing fiber, and
matrix,
 Whereas E-composites, Ef , and Em represent the elastic modulus of composite, reinforcing filler,
and matrix.
 Vm and Vf are the volume fractions (%) of the reinforcing filler and matrix, respectively.
ROM is the simplest and easiest method to predict the mechanical properties of composites with a given
filler volume fraction and using the characteristics of its components.

The rule of mixtures is a simple and reasonably accurate way of predicting the mechanical properties of
composites, but it has certain limitations. As we know rule of mixture is based on four assumptions,
required for accurate measurement of mechanical properties of composites. If any of those assumptions
fails, the ROM does not work accurate.
To predict the strength of a composite, such an approach is much more inaccurate, as the strength highly
depends on the quality of the bond between the matrix and the filler. Furthermore, in a laminate
comprised of multiple layers with different filler orientations, final failure does not always coincide with
onset of damage. Damage may start at a load significantly lower than the load at which final failure occurs.
In order to predict when damage starts and how it evolves requires modelling of the matrix and fillers.
ROM assumes that the filler is unidirectionally aligned and stress is uniformly distributed. But in reality, the
spread of the filler can be non-homogenous and the filler orientation can be misaligned, resulting in
reduced tensile strength of the unidirectional fiber composites.
Moreover, ROM also considers that the fiber and the matrix
experience identical deformation, as shown in Figure 1. However,
since both materials exhibit different tensile behaviors, shear-lag
occurs and causes rupture to occur at different points of time.
Some people do believe that hybrid is different thing than composite structure. Hybrid structure is based
on type of construction method or system used while composite structure is based on material taken into
construction process.
The term nanocomposite is used if the combination of structural units yields a material with composite
properties. That is to say that the original properties of the separate components are still present in the
composite and are unchanged by mixing these materials. However, if a new property emerges from the
intimate mixture, then the material becomes a hybrid. Which means in hybrid the filler and matrix unite
together to develop new properties, this union is supposed to be of strong correlation. Hence the ROM
which works conditionally for composites works unconditionally for hybrids materials having all ingredients
with similar mechanical properties.

Hybrids: Orthotropic Deformation

Composite materials may be either isotropic or anisotropic, which is determined by the structures of
composites. Isotropic material properties do not depend on a direction of measuring. Remain the same in
all directions. Anisotropic material properties differ along a particular axis from the properties measured
along other axes.
Orthotropic
In material science and solid mechanics, orthotropic materials have material properties that differ along
three mutually-orthogonal twofold axes of rotational symmetry at a particular point. They are a subset of
anisotropic materials, because their properties change when measured from different directions.
Anisotropy is the property of being directionally dependent (its characteristics vary continuously), as
opposed to isotropy, which implies identical properties in all directions.
In particular, if the material has three planes of symmetry mutually orthogonal, it is called orthotropic (See
figure 3 in slide).
In a composite laminate the plans are identified by the middle plane of the lamina and this orthogonal
planes are parallel to the two principal directions i.e. direction of the fibers and the direction orthogonal
reinforcement for unidirectional fiber (See Figure 3).
To better understand the difference between an anisotropic material and an orthotropic material is useful
to observe – for example – that the application of a tensile load to an element with prismatic form and
made with anisotropic material, produces deformations and variable flows along all element sides, it is
anisotropy. This occurs regardless of the particular direction of the applied loading. Instead if the material
is orthotropic, there are three directions mutually orthogonal such that the application of a tensile stress in
these directions produces, a constant deformation without distortion in the plans identified by these
(Figure 1). These three directions are called the principal directions of the material.

F-1 F-2 F-3

Consider a composite sheet (Figure 2) , if the direction of application of the load
coincides with a main direction (Figure 2 (a)) then corresponds to a normal stress
simple a state of uniform deformation without sliding, while if the load direction is
deflected with respect to the principal directions of the load also produces sliding
in the plane (Figure 2 (b)).

Upper Bound Limit and Lower Bound Limit

Rule of Mixtures can approximately estimate composite properties, based on an assumption that a

composite property is the volume weighed average of the phases (matrix and dispersed phase) properties.
This is used to find upper bound limit and lower bound limit of material properties.
What is upper bound and lower bound limit?
In a composite material often there are non-homogeneous ways of making the composite like hand lay-up.
In a situation like this, it’s often good to know the weakest and strongest directions or capabilities of
applying force to the composite (some are good under tension, but not compression, for example). So, we
often talk about lower and upper bounds of strength in order to properly plan for a design need.
In the most basic form, you could think of these as being the weakest material’s strength (oftenly the
matrix), or the strongest material’s strength (oftenly the fiber). Those could be a basic upper and lower
bound. It can get complicated quickly however, because the strength may not be *exactly* the lesser
material’s strength, or *exactly* the greater material’s strength, think about entanglement of fibers under
compressive load or slip of fibers across each other, or even cross-over points lowering the strength of the
fibers due to stress at these points.

Consider a composite material under uniaxial tension (σ-composites). If the material is to stay intact, the
strain of the fibers (εf), must equal the strain of the matrix (εm), See equation 1 where σf, Ef, σm, Em are the
stress and elastic modulus of the fibers and the matrix, respectively. Noting stress to be a force per unit
area, a force balance gives equation 2 where V is the volume fraction of filler and (1-V) is the volume
fraction of matrix in composite. If it is assumed that the composite material behaves as a linear-elastic
material, i.e., abiding Hooke's law (σ-composites=Ec.εc) for some elastic modulus of the composite Ec and
some strain of the composite εc, then equation 2 becomes equation 3. Finally, since ε-composites=εf=εm,
the overall elastic modulus of the composite can be expressed as equation 4
It is the upper bound limit or maximum strength limit stating that the elastic modulus of composite will be
a sum of volume fraction elastic modulus of filler and matrix. It is the condition where filler orientation is in
a way to support matrix in load sharing. Upper bound limit gives the maximum stress that a composite can
bear before damage. So we can say that upper bound limit is stress based estimation.

Now let the composite material be loaded perpendicular to the fibers, assuming that 
σ-composites = σf = σm
The overall strain in the composite is distributed between the materials see equation 1
It is the lower bound limit or minimum strength limit stating that the elastic modulus of composite will be a
sum of elastic modulus of filler and matrix divided on their volume fraction. It is the condition where filler
orientation is not in a direction to support matrix in load sharing.
Lower bound limit gives the minimum stress that filler (being strongest part) can bear before damage. So
we can say that lower bound limit is strain based estimation.
When both filler and matrix are supporting each other, we will calculate maximum load (force) that
composite can bear
When filler and matrix are not supporting each other then we will calculate the maximum load (force) that
filler can bear. Remember filler is the strongest part, not the matrix (in hybrid composites).

Assignments
 Usually stress (force) is applied to produce strain (deformation). Does it happen like this all the
time? Do you know any case where it happens vice versa (strain cause stress)?
 If Organic Part in Hybrid composite brings elasticity, then what about Organic crystals? And if
Inorganic part in Hybrids brings brittleness, then what about clay?