Based on the preceeding description of the response characteristics of short fiber filled plastic materials, a multiscale material model was developed using the following assumptions and constraints:
- The short reinforcing fibers do not exhibit any plasticity or rupture, rather the fibers exhibit a simple linear elastic response
- The plastic matrix constituent exhibits both plasticity and rupture
- The idealized model's matrix plasticity and matrix rupture are intended to account for any fiber/matrix debonding that occurs in the real material
- All nonlinearity exhibited by the composite material is due to nonlinearity (plasticity and rupture) in the plastic matrix material
- Plasticity and rupture of the plastic matrix constituent are driven by stress in the plastic matrix constituent, as opposed to being driven by the homogenized stress in the composite material
- The plasticity and rupture responses of the plastic matrix constituent are strongly dependent on the degree of alignedness of the reinforcing fibers
- As the degree of fiber alignedness increases, the plasticity and rupture responses of the plastic matrix constituent become strongly dependent on the direction of loading relative to the average direction of the reinforcing fibers