Abstract
The carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) is a mainstream material for lightweight products from the end of the 20th century to the present day. Its compression molding process has obvious advantages in mass production. This paper attempts to establish the constitutive models of compression molding of the CFRP materials and study their mechanism. Based on anisotropic linear elastic mechanics, viscoelastic mechanics, and thermodynamics, as well as the Maxwell viscoelastic constitutive model, we first establish the constitutive model of thermorheologically simple CFRP materials (TSMs). Then, considering the influence of temperature on the initial stiffness and equilibrium stiffness, the concept of temperature stiffness coefficient is introduced, and the Cartier coordinate system is converted into a cylindrical coordinate system, thereby establishing the constitutive model of thermorheologically complex materials (TCMs) using the tensor form. Finally, by comparing to the structure of the Zocher model, the two constitutive models established in this study are verified. The research findings have important theoretical research significance for studying the compression molding mechanism of carbon fiber and further improving the quality of product molding.
Highlights
Carbon fiber is one of the most relevant materials from the end of the 20th century to the present day
The compression molding method has the advantages of low cost, high efficiency, low internal stress, small warpage, good mechanical stability, and high repeatability, and it has a strong competitive advantage in the batch production of product parts, especially in large batch production [4,5]
When the carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) materials are thermorheologically simple CFRP materials (TSMs), the material’s equilibrium stiffness and initial stiffness are unrelated with the degree of curing
Summary
Carbon fiber is one of the most relevant materials from the end of the 20th century to the present day. Due to its characteristics such as high specific strength, high specific modulus, fatigue resistance, good molding process, good breakage safety, and strong performance designability, the carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) has been increasingly applied in aerospace, wind turbine blades, sports equipment, and automotive parts, etc It is the mainstream material for lightweight products in the 21st century [1,2,3], gradually transiting from secondary load-bearing components to primary load-bearing components. The establishment of the CFRP anisotropic viscoelastic constitutive models, especially for TCM materials, will lay a theoretical foundation for revealing the mechanism of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers [17], and provide theoretical guidance to improve the quality of products molding, to further speed up the industrialization process of CFRP
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