Abstract
The effect of residual stress build-up on the transverse properties of thermoset composites is studied through direct and inverse process modeling approaches. Progressive damage analysis is implemented to characterize composite stiffness and strength of cured composites microstructures. A size effect study is proposed to define the appropriate dimensions of Representative Volume Elements (RVEs). A comparison between periodic (PBCs) and flat (FBCs) boundary conditions during curing is performed on converged RVEs to establish computationally efficient methodologies. Transverse properties are analyzed as a function of the fiber packing through the nearest fiber distance statistical descriptor. A reasonable mechanical equivalence is achieved for RVEs consisting of 40 fibers. It has been found that process-induced residual stresses and fiber packing significantly contribute to the scatter in composites transverse strength. Variation of ±5% in average strength and 18% in standard deviation are observed with respect to ideally cured RVEs that neglect residual stresses. It is established that process modeling is needed to optimize the residual stress state and improve composite performance.
Highlights
Fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composites (PMCs) are widely used in structural applications due to their high strength and lightweight attributes and their superior fatigue and corrosion resistance [1,2,3,4]
In order to better understand the effect of the manufacturing process, results for 100 fiber Representative Volume Elements (RVEs) are discussed in more detail
A summary of the size effect study is reported in Section 3.2 to determine an appropriate RVE size for cost-efficient numerical analysis
Summary
Fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composites (PMCs) are widely used in structural applications due to their high strength and lightweight attributes and their superior fatigue and corrosion resistance [1,2,3,4] Such composites are manufactured by curing the matrix, that surrounds the interspersed fibers, under high temperature and pressure conditions. Random and off-axial fiber architecture, introduced during manufacturing, alters the composite stress state which may further contribute to the onset and evolution of damage [6,7,8,9,10] Internal defects such as voids and microcracks may occur [11,12,13,14,15].
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