Multi-coated Matrix Laminates

Matrix laminates do not have enough parameters to represent the variety of materials that simultaneously conducts several substances, like heat, electricity, diffusive liquids, or electromagnetic composites. For these problems, we must consider a type of microstructures with more structural parameters.

The more general optimal microstructures are the sequences of ``coated spheres'' called multicoated spheres (Milton). These structures consist of sequences of concentric spherical layers that are filled with two materials in alternating order. The properties of these isotropic structures are controlled by the relative thickness of the alternating layers.

Structure of "Multicoated matrix laminates"

The construction of ``multicoated matrices'' combines the anisotropy of matrix laminates and the topological complexity of multicoated spheres.

Structure of "Multicoated spheres"

These structures have been described in [#!Milton:1991:PLG!#,#!Cherkaev:1992:ECB!#] These structures exhibit optimal properties in a problem of extremely coupled effective properties, see [#!Cherkaev:1992:ECB!#].