On the response of MMC laminated plates to non-uniform temperature loading: the effect of temperature-dependent material properties

Thermal response of antisymmetrically laminated metal matrix composite (MMC) plates subjected to non-uniform temperature field is analysed. Temperature dependence of both elastic and viscoplastic properties of the metallic matrix is taken into account; this suggests that a non-uniformly heated plate should be considered as a non-homogeneous structure. A micro-to-macro approach is employed to establish the instantaneous thermo-inelastic constitutive law at each point of the plate and to perform the structural analysis. Results are presented for simply-supported and clamped graphite-aluminium plates. The effects of boundary conditions, lamination angle, length-to-thickness ratio and different types of spatial temperature distributions are illustrated. Comparisons with the results obtained using an approach that treats the effect of temperature-dependent material properties in a simplified manner are shown. Comparisons with the corresponding elastic solutions (which neglect the inelastic effects in the metallic matrix) are given. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.