Significant Improvement in Mechanical Performance for Grid-Stiffened Polymer Composites

Abstract

This work studies the static mechanical properties of grid stiffened polymer composites. This developed composite is expected to have an ultra-higher mechanical performance than traditional composite structures. Static mechanical measurements show that the combination of gridding reinforcement and epoxy polymer (Diglycidyl 4,5-epoxy cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate) helps the advanced composite to possess extremely high mechanical properties, such as resistive properties in axial pressure (more than 160% improvement) and external pressure (more than 102% improvement) for comparison. Subsequently, the effects of wetting angle of reinforcement, quantity of gridding reinforcement, and type of grid on the mechanical properties of the advanced polymer composites have been studied and analyzed. Finally, the finite element model (FEM) method is employed to substantiate these experimental results. The FEM simulation results are in such great agreement with the experimental results that the standard deviations between them are strictly limited to 15%. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the FEM technology is an effective approach for predicting and optimizing structure design, as well as the mechanical behaviors.