The present work presents the investigation of the mechanical behavior of the composite materials, strengthened with short fibers and particles. A simple model is presented, with purpose for prediction of the breaking stress of this class of composite material. The model consists in the modification of the Rule of Mixture, with the introduction of a term, referring to the particle phase, present in the composite material. It is introduced and investigated a correction factor (gamma), to adjust the magnitude of the phase particle contribution to composite material strength. It is developed, still, a simplified equation to correct the factor (beta) - of fiber alignment - present in the equation of the Rule of Mixtures. This correction needs to be made because of the preferential alignment of the fibers that occurs in the stage of material compaction process. Three different composite materials were produced, varying only the ratios of materials, maintaining the raw materials. The composite materials produced were tested by the three-point flexural method, in order to determine their mechanical properties. The comparison between mechanical properties obtained experimentally and the theoretical results demonstrate good agreement with the real behavior of the composite material strengthened with short fibers and particles.
Composite materials; modeling; fibers alignment
