A Modeling Method of Continuous Fiber Paths for Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) of Variable Stiffness Composite Structures

Abstract

A modeling method of variable stiffness composite structures (VSCSs) with curved fiber trajectories has been developed. The fiber trajectories are aligned in the direction of maximum principal stress, and the VSCSs with variable fiber orientation and the variable fiber volume fraction are modeled on the basis of these trajectories. A material property degradation method taking into account the heterogeneity of material properties of the VSCSs is used to predict the ultimate load and model the progressive failure for a composite plate with a hole under tensile loading. It is shown that a transition from rectilinear reinforcement to curvilinear results in an increase in the ultimate load of the plate. The opportunity for simulation of a continuous fiber path for the VSCSs is presented, and the path could be used to produce the VSCSs by additive manufacturing (3D printing).