Mechanical and thermal stresses in multilayered materials

A general solution for elastic deformation of monolithic and multilayered materials due to external loads and moments, mismatch in thermal expansion, and temperature gradients is derived. Special consideration is given to materials with stress dependent stiffness or gradient in elastic modulus. The relationships can be used to determine the stiffness, thickness, thermal expansion coefficient, or thermal gradient. The fracture of a monolithic material with stress dependent stiffness and the temperature dependence of the elastic modulus and thickness are considered as well as the possibility to use the change in curvature in the case of delamination to determine the fracture energy.