The role of gradation on the improvement of effective properties of highly heterogeneous multilayered thermoviscoplastic materials under simple shearing

In this paper we study the role of the gradation on the effective properties of heterogeneous multilayered thermoviscoplastic materials with discontinuous properties under simple shearing. Starting from the bimetallic multilayered material, we produce a new multicomponent material with discontinuous gradation having improved effective properties. We also present the effective properties of the continuously graded material functionally graded material (FGM). The main results are illustrated with some numerical examples.