Creep analysis of plates made of functionally graded Al-SiC material subjected to thermomechanical loading

This paper investigates creep analysis of a plate made of Al-SiC functionally graded material using Mendelson's method of successive elastic solution. All mechanical and thermal material properties, except Poisson's ratio, are assumed to be variable along the thickness direction based on the volume fraction of reinforcement and thickness. First, the basic relations of the plate are derived using the Love-Kirchhoff plate theory. The solution of governing equations yields an elastic solution to start creep analysis. The creep behavior is demonstrated through Norton's equation based on Pandey's experimental results extracted for Al-SiC functionally graded material. A linear variation is assumed for temperature distribution along the thickness direction. The creep strain, as well as the thermal strain, are included in the governing equations derived from classical plate theory for mechanical strain. A successive elastic solution based on Mendelson's method is employed to derive the history of stresses, strains, and displacements over a long time. History of stresses and deformations are obtained over a long time to predict damage to the plate because of various loadings, and material composition along the thickness and planar directions.