Evaluation of a composite damage constitutive model for PP composites

Abstract

Glass mat or chopped fiber reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites are interesting alternatives to steel for vehicle closure applications. The current work evaluates the application of the CODAM model, a damage mechanics based composite constitutive model, for impact simulation of PP composites. As the first step, the damage parameters in the CODAM model were determined for a PP composite. This paper presents the process for determining tensile, compression and shear damage parameters through correlation of finite element (FE) simulations with standard material test results, including tensile, compression, compact tension and Iosipescu shear tests; also a preliminary validation of the model is presented with driven dart impact experiments.