A novel modeling method to study compressive behaviors of 3D braided composites considering effects of fiber breakage and waviness defects

Abstract

Fiber breakage and waviness defects are two significant and inevitable defects existing in three-dimensional braided composites (3DBCs). This work proposed a new method to create the numerical model containing fiber breakage and waviness defects at the micro-scale level according to experimental characterization results. The experimental tests of 3DBCs with various braiding angles and matrix types are then designed to verify the reliability and adaptability of the model. The results indicate that the fiber breakage and waviness defects both gave rise to an apparent decrease in the axial mechanical properties of the unidirectional and braided composites. The influences of two kinds of defects on 3DBCs are also related to the braiding angles. In addition, the effect of matrix type on the 3DBC is apparent that should not be neglected. The primary reasons of the change of compressive properties of 3DBCs with different matrix types are the variations of the matrix and interfacial properties. The proposed modeling method in this work can be extended for those composites that include a large quantity of fiber breakage and waviness defects.