Abstract
In this study, Representative Volume Element based micromechanical modeling technique has been implemented to assess the mechanical properties of glass filled epoxy composites. Rod shaped glass fillers having an aspect ratio of 80 were used for preparing the epoxy composite. The three-dimensional unit cell model of representative volume element was prepared with finite element analysis tool ANSYS 19 using the periodic square and hexagonal array with an assumption that there is a perfect bonding between the filler and the epoxy matrix. Results revealed that the tensile modulus increases and Poisson’s ratio decreases with increase in the volume fraction of the filler. To study the effect of filler volume fraction, the pulse echo techniques were used to experimentally measure the tensile modulus and Poisson’s ratio for 5% to 15% volume fraction of the filler. A good agreement was found between the RVE based predicted values and the experimental results.
Highlights
Polymer matrix and the fiber reinforcement when blended together give result to a material commonly known as fiber reinforced polymer composite
The present study focuses on developing a three-dimensional unit cell model of RVE using the finite element analysis approach in ANSYS
Model of RVE was generated for the rod shaped glass fillerepoxy composites using ANSYS 19.0
Summary
Polymer matrix and the fiber reinforcement when blended together give result to a material commonly known as fiber reinforced polymer composite. Polymer composites have made remarkable progress and are being substantially used as a potential alternative to conventionally used structural materials. These composites are being extensively utilized in various engineering applications due to the excellent combination of properties that they possess [1, 2]. Kushvaha et al [9] studied experimentally the effect of using different shapes and volume fraction of glass fillers on the mechanical properties of the resulting polymer composites. They used bisphenol epoxy as the matrix and glass particles of three different shapes viz. Results of their study highlighted the best performance of rod shaped
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