A Review of Classical Fiber Microbuckling Analytical Solutions for use with Elastic Memory Composites

range of 1%-1.5%, yet EMC laminates reinforced with carbon fibers are capable of nominal bending strain values of greater than 5% without damage. The primary mechanism that allows these high packaging strains is microbuckling and nonlinear, post-microbuckling response of the carbon fibers. Although progress has been made in predicting EMC behavior through the development of practical, rule-of-thumb design equations, a thorough analytical treatment of the onset of microbuckling and post-microbuckled mechanics of EMC has not yet been achieved. The present paper is a survey of classical microbuckling solutions and an assessment of their applicability for predicting microbuckling response in EMC materials during packaging and deployment. A key conclusion is that these solutions are based on incorrect kinematic assumptions for EMC microbuckling, and hence result in significant errors in computed critical stress/strain and microbuckle wavelength. It is, however, likely that the approach used to derive the classical solutions may be used with modifications to derive more accurate solutions for EMC laminates.