Surface/interface effect plays a significant role in the study of the mechanical properties of nano composites. Most previous papers in the literature only considered the surface/interface elasticity, whereas some papers only considered the residual surface/interface stress (surface/interface tension). In this paper, an energy-based surface/interface theory is applied to systematically study the effective thermo-elastic properties of unidirectional fiber-reinforced nanocomposites, in which both the surface/interface elasticity and the residual surface/interface stress are included. The emphasis is particularly placed on the influence of the residual interface stress on the effective thermo-elastic properties of such nanocomposites, since this influence was ignored by many previous authors. Analytical expressions of five effective transversely isotropic elastic constants are derived, in which a modified generalized self consistent method is suggested to obtain an explicit expression of the size-dependent effective transverse shear modulus. Furthermore, with an introduced concept of 'equivalent fiber' (i.e., a fiber together with its interface), the effective thermal expansion coefficients and the effective specific heat at constant strain of the fiber-reinforced nanocomposite are obtained. Finally, numerical examples are illustrated, and the effect of residual interface stress on the effective thermo-elastic properties of the fibrous nanocomposite is discussed. It is shown that the residual interface stress has a significant effect on the overall thermo-elastic properties of the nanocomposites. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A new micromechanics method is proposed to investigate the effective properties of saturated porous media with connected pores. This topic is seldom discussed in the literature because it is difficult to describe the connected pores and skeleton using conventional micromechanics methods. A new micromechanics model (i.e., Model I) is suggested to characterize such saturated porous media in which the pores saturated by fluid are taken as the matrix, and the interconnected randomly oriented long fiber (ROLF)-like solid skeleton is taken as the inclusions. The proposed model is verified by numerical simulations; the simulation results indicate that the difference of the elastic constants calculated for media with interconnected pores and for those with dispersed ROLF solid inclusions is small. Thus, the elastic moduli of Model I can be treated as approximate values for porous media with connected pores. Further, a modified Eshelby tensor for spherical inclusions is derived based on the equivalency of the elastic moduli of Model I and a conventional micromechanics model in which spherical fluid inclusions are distributed randomly in a solid matrix. By means of the modified Eshelby tenor, conventional micromechanics methods can be utilized directly to calculate the effective mechanical and thermal properties of saturated porous media with interconnected pores. Some examples are presented to show that the macroscopic elastic moduli predicted by the proposed method are in good agreement with test data found in the literature.

Surface/interface effect plays a significant role in the study of the mechanical properties of nano composites. Most previous papers in the literature only considered the surface/interface elasticity, whereas some papers only considered the residual surface/interface stress (surface/interface tension). In this paper, an energy-based surface/interface theory is applied to systematically study the effective thermo-elastic properties of unidirectional fiber-reinforced nanocomposites, in which both the surface/interface elasticity and the residual surface/interface stress are included. The emphasis is particularly placed on the influence of the residual interface stress on the effective thermo-elastic properties of such nanocomposites, since this influence was ignored by many previous authors. Analytical expressions of five effective transversely isotropic elastic constants are derived, in which a modified generalized self consistent method is suggested to obtain an explicit expression of the size-dependent effective transverse shear modulus. Furthermore, with an introduced concept of 'equivalent fiber' (i.e., a fiber together with its interface), the effective thermal expansion coefficients and the effective specific heat at constant strain of the fiber-reinforced nanocomposite are obtained. Finally, numerical examples are illustrated, and the effect of residual interface stress on the effective thermo-elastic properties of the fibrous nanocomposite is discussed. It is shown that the residual interface stress has a significant effect on the overall thermo-elastic properties of the nanocomposites. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A new micromechanics method is proposed to investigate the effective properties of saturated porous media with connected pores. This topic is seldom discussed in the literature because it is difficult to describe the connected pores and skeleton using conventional micromechanics methods. A new micromechanics model (i.e., Model I) is suggested to characterize such saturated porous media in which the pores saturated by fluid are taken as the matrix, and the interconnected randomly oriented long fiber (ROLF)-like solid skeleton is taken as the inclusions. The proposed model is verified by numerical simulations; the simulation results indicate that the difference of the elastic constants calculated for media with interconnected pores and for those with dispersed ROLF solid inclusions is small. Thus, the elastic moduli of Model I can be treated as approximate values for porous media with connected pores. Further, a modified Eshelby tensor for spherical inclusions is derived based on the equivalency of the elastic moduli of Model I and a conventional micromechanics model in which spherical fluid inclusions are distributed randomly in a solid matrix. By means of the modified Eshelby tenor, conventional micromechanics methods can be utilized directly to calculate the effective mechanical and thermal properties of saturated porous media with interconnected pores. Some examples are presented to show that the macroscopic elastic moduli predicted by the proposed method are in good agreement with test data found in the literature.