A Homogenization Method for Pre-Impregnated Composite Materials.

The paper presents an original homogenization method to predict the elastic properties of multiphase pre-impregnated composite materials like Sheet- and Bulk Molding Compounds. The upper and lower limits of the homogenized coefficients for a 27% fibres volume fraction SMC are computed. It is presented a comparison between the upper and lower limits of the homogenized elastic coefficients of a SMC material and the experimental data. The estimation model used as a homogenization method of these heterogeneous composite materials, gave emphasis to a good agreement between this theoretical approach and experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]