Parametric modeling based on the real geometry of glass fiber unidirectional non-crimp fabric

Abstract

Meso-structure modeling of fiber reinforcement is a critical step for predictions of the manufacturing process and mechanical properties of composites. In the work reported in this paper, a meso-scale model based on the real geometry of glass fiber non-crimp fabric (NCF) was developed, and an attempt for the parametric modeling has been made. First, the buckling of warp yarns due to the tension of stitching yarn has been considered, and the buckling can be described by a curve equation. In addition, cross-sectional characterizations of warp and weft yarns were studied via metallographic observations, and 3D models have been constructed. Second, the path of the polyester stitching yarn was extracted by the tracer fiber technique and fitted by the B-spline spline curve; this trace can be can be simplified to several equations in Matlab. Finally, the unit cell model has been assembled and the penetration has been checked for each component. In this study, a meso-scale model of NCF was accurately established which truly reflects the relationship among geometry and position of yarns, providing a precise geometric model for further study on compressive deformation and permeability prediction of NCF in the future.