Material nonlinear behavior of laminated metal–matrix composite plates supported at edges under uniform traverse loading

This paper deals with material non-linear behavior of steel fiber reinforced aluminum metal–matrix composite plates prepared by the squeeze casting process. By such an analysis it is intended to form an opinion about elastic–plastic behavior of laminated plates used in engineering problems associated with structural designs. Therefore, loads that begin plastic flow at any point of laminate for various stacking sequences are obtained. Afterwards, how further increase in loads gradually causes spreading of plastic zone is examined. Elastic/plastic and residual stress variations correspond to diverse stacking sequences of laminated plates are illustrated in figures. Plastic zone expansions are displayed in simply supported symmetric and antisymmetric laminated composite plates by contour plots. The finite element method is applied for analyses based on small deformation effects including shear deformation. For nonlinear solution of the problem a combined incremental/iterative procedure (modified Newton–Raphson) is followed and load increments are chosen to be sufficiently small to obtain a rapid-converged equilibrium state. Mechanical properties of an orthotropic layer are obtained experimentally.