Numerical simulation of the mechanical properties of a carbon‐fiber‐reinforced hollow glass microsphere–epoxy syntactic foam

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe addition of carbon fibers has a great influence on the mechanical properties of hollow glass microsphere (HGM)–epoxy syntactic foam. Thus, to elucidate the reinforcement mechanism, the numerical simulation of HGM‐ and carbon‐fiber‐filled epoxy matrixes was carried out. The effect of the orientation of carbon fibers on the elastic modulus and stress distribution was studied. The effect of the elastic modulus of the matrix on the change of force was also studied. We noted that the orientation of carbon fibers affected the elastic modulus of the matrix, and when the carbon fibers were distributed in the direction of force, the elastic modulus of the matrix reached its maximum. The maximum stress of HGMs decreased with increasing matrix elastic modulus, and the mechanical properties of the syntactic foam increased with increasing elastic modulus of the matrix. When the carbon fibers were distributed in the direction of the force, the enhancement effect was the best. Because the carbon fibers had a higher elastic modulus than the matrix, the degree of compressive deformation of the carbon fibers was smaller than that of the matrix. During compression, carbon fibers were pulled out and consumed a lot of energy. Thus, the mechanical properties of the syntactic foam were improved. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47083.