Thermo‐chemo‐mechanical modelling of a curing process combined with mean‐field homogenization methods at large strains

Abstract

AbstractNowadays, polymeric materials have several applications, where carbon and glass fibre‐reinforced composite materials, epoxy laminates and (nano‐)particle‐reinforced polymer structures are typical examples. Starting with an initial uncured state of the matrix, a mixture of resin and curing agent undergoes a polymerization process which cures the matrix to a solid material. The curing process is highly temperature dependent and influences the mechanical, thermal and chemical properties of a composite strongly. There are different options to treat such an inhomogeneous material. One option are the semi‐analytical mean‐field homogenization methods. Mean‐field homogenization methods are originally developed for linear elastic materials. To account for non‐linear materials a special treatment is needed. A mean‐field homogenization framework is derived for constitutive multiscale (micro‐meso‐macro) modelling of a coupled thermo‐chemo‐mechanical problem. The macroscale represents a homogeneous material, whereas the mesoscale is decomposed into a polymer based material and inclusions. The microscale represents a step‐growth polymerization mechanism, modelled as a system of multiple growing spheres decomposed into a solid, resin and curing agent material phase. A numerical example shows the capability of the presented framework.