Multi-scale approach-based studies on the damage-healing and fracture behavior of plain woven textile composite

Abstract

A study on the fracture and damage-healing behavior of plain woven textile composite (PWTC) is performed in the present work. The primary objective is to conduct 2D progressive failure analysis (PFA) under static in-plane loading conditions, progressive damage-healing analysis for different cyclic strain histories, and experimental fracture studies of PWTC material. A chain of equivalent cross-ply laminates (ECPL) consisting of warp and fill plies is considered as the modified representative volume element (RVE) of PWTC distributing matrix phase within warp and fill yarns. The 2D PFA, based on classical laminate theory (diffused cracking) by eliminating stiffness terms, is performed applying maximum stress theory to predict the macro-scale stress-strain behavior of PWTC. The 2D PFA of PWTC material behavior is implemented as ABAQUS® user material subroutines (UMAT and VUMAT), and the fracturing of PWTC notched bar is demonstrated for an illustration purpose. The novel multi-scale progressive damage-healing analysis is subsequently performed, by -order damage-healing effect tensor, applying Voigt approximation on ECPL model (self-healing in warp ply for an illustration purpose). The failure modes identified in numerical PFA are verified performing in-house experiments (through fractography).