Percolation in a Thin Ply Of Unidirectional Composite

Abstract
A unidirectional composite is modeled as a two-dimensional cartesian square lattice of infinite width and finite thickness. Circular fiber cross sections, each contained completely within a lattice square and touching on all four sides, are placed at random within the lattice according to the fiber volume fraction. Percolation, in this system, is shown to be very sensitive to the lattice thickness. To be regarded as infinitely thick a lattice must be at least 150 fiber diameters across, and for a typical ply thickness of 20 fiber diameters the critical fiber fraction for percolation is shifted by 26% from the infinite lattice value of 0.46 to a smaller value of 0.34.

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