13.1. Introduction
Residual stresses in fibre reinforced composites are introduced during the curing and cooling stages of fabrication, due to a high contraction of polymer matrix in comparison with fibres. This phenomenon is observed in almost any composites, as a result of natural inconsistency of physical and mechanical properties of the fibre and matrix. Generally, these stresses are studied from the macroscopic and microscopic points of view. The residual stress in micro-scale is a result of the mismatch in the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and Young’s modulus between the fibres and the matrix and interphase (Quek, 2004 and Shokrieh and Safarabadi, 2012). On the macro-mechanical level or layers, the non-uniform shrinkage and mismatch in CTE between different layers is the governing parameter (Borges de Almeida, 2005 and Kim and Mai, 1998).