Abstract
The knowledge of stress distributions within a short fibre reinforced composite is useful for an understanding of the micromechanical load transfer between fibre and matrix. This is especially interesting in the case of a plastifying matrix about which little can be found in the literature. This paper first describes a newly developed finite element model in three dimensions which contains several closer to reality aspects than conventional models. Using this model, stress distributions are presented for an almost perfectly elastic and for a strongly plastified deformation stage of a specimen with a high degree of fibre orientation. These distributions and their implications are discussed in detail.