ON THE COMPLETENESS OF THE CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC SYMMETRIES IN THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SYMMETRIES OF THE ELASTIC TENSOR

It is shown that all symmetries possible for the elastic tensors can be reduced to the twelve symmetries already used in the description of the crystal classes. Each symmetry can be characterized by a group of rotations generated by no more than two rotations. The use of a canonical basis related to such rotations considerably simplifies the component forms of the elasticity tensor. This result applies to non-symmetric tensors; for symmetric tensors, the number of independent symmetries reduces from twelve to ten.Engineering, MultidisciplinaryMaterials Science, MultidisciplinaryMechanicsSCI(E)26ARTICLE3203-2462