Laminates

Definition
A laminate is an assemblage of individual
lamina or plies bonded together normal to
their principal plane (i.e., plies are stacked
and bonded in their thickness direction).

Laminates can be classified according to the

fiber orientation.
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L
 Laminates classification according to the fiber
orientation.

Unidirectional Laminate- The fiber angle in any

ply is parallel to the fiber angle in every other
ply. This is a thick lamina from a mechanics
point of view.

Cross Ply Laminate - The fiber angle in any ply is

normal to at least one other ply and parallel to
any other ply or plies (i.e., contains only 0 and
90° plies).

Angle Ply Laminate - Fiber angle of any ply is not

restricted to parallel and normal directions.
 Laminates classification based on stacking
sequence
Symmetric Laminate – In a symmetric laminate all plies above the
midplane have the same angle as the ply in the equivalent
positio n below the midplane (i.e., the midplane of the laminate
is a plane of symmetry).

Antisymmetric Laminate - All plies above the midplane have the

opposite (negative) angle as the ply in the equivalent position
below the midplane. (The midplane is a plane of antisymmetry)

Asymmetric Laminate - The midplane is not a plane of symmetry

or antisymmetry.

Quasiisotropic Laminate - Three or more plies in which the

orientation of constituent are increments of p n where n is the
total number of plies.
Examples of quasiisotropic
laminates
 LAMINATE CODE
To avoid the ambiguity based on fabrication direction, the angle naming convention is
with respect to the loading direction. Remember the loading direction is called the
arbitrary direction (the x direction). Each ply is considered to have the same
thickness. The naming convention is reflected in the laminate code.
Consider the laminate with 6 plies: 0º, +45º, 90º, 90º, +45º, 0º in the sequence indicated.
Since there is an even number of plies the laminate code is written [0/45/90]S
The subscript, s, indicates a plane of symmetry in the laminate.
For the laminate with 5 plies: 0º, +45º, 90º, +45º, 0º stacked in the sequence indicated.
There is an odd number of plies in laminate and the code is written [0/45/90]S
The bar indicates that the plane of symmetry passes through 90° ply. For negative
angles the sign is displayed in front of the angle. Positive and negative pairs are
indicated by “±”.
For the ply sequence: 0º, 45º, -45º, 90º, 90°, -45º, 45º,0º the laminate code is
[0/±45/90]S
Consider the stacking sequence: 0º, 90º, 0º, 0º, 0º, 0º, 45º, 45º, 0º, 0º, 0º, 0º, 90º, 0º with
repeat plies on both sides of the midplane; the laminate code is [0/90/04/45]S
For repeat pairs: 0º, +45º, -45º, +45º, -45º, +45º, -45º, 0º, 0º, 0º, 0º, -45º, +45º, -45,+45º,
-45º, +45º, 0º the code is written [0/(±453)/02]S
If an extra 0° ply is inserted at the midplane in the code becomes [0/(±453)/02/0]S
If the ply sequence is antisymmetric the subscript S is replaced with A.
 Plate assumptions
•  Flat plate of several individual layers

•  Laminate thickness negligible with respect to the other

dimensions (i.e., the interlaminar stresses far from the
edges can be neglected)

•  Layers are perfectly bonded together, therefore

displacements are continuous across boundaries

•  Deformations in the z directions can be neglected

(i.e., εz≈0)

•  Stress components along z can be neglected (σz≈0)

•  Kirchoff-Love hypothesis: Normals to the center line

remain normal to center line after deformation -- this
neglects through the thickness shears
A generic deformation applied to the
laminate: stretching-bending
 Assume to deform
the laminate.

The displacement u along the x axis of a point C at a distance z

from the middle plane is:

Where: The subscript 0

refers to the
middle plane
•  Analogously, for the displacement v in the y direction
one can write :

The displacement w in the z direction is the sum of the

displacement of the middle plane and of the
elongation of the perpendicular to the middle plane. If
we assume this last one as neglectable, it holds:
The deformations εx, εy and γxy are therefore
equal to:

ε and k are the

deformations
and the
curvatures of
the middle
plane,
respectively