Prediction of transverse mechanical performance of UD CFRP composite lamina considering high-temperature properties of epoxy

Abstract

A comprehensive computational micromechanics has been presented to predict the transverse mechanical properties and failure envelop of bi-axial stress in a 22-33 plane at high temperatures. First, a paraboloidal elasto-plastic damage model considering the temperature effect of epoxy has been employed. Then, in order to rapidly create the random fiber distribution of the representative volume element (RVE), a simple and effective algorithm of fiber placement and an auto modeling and calculating python script have been developed, where the thickness size effect of RVEs has been discussed. Finally, the transverse tension/compression and out-of-plane shear properties and the corresponding failure envelop of RVEs are analyzed systematically by means of finite element simulations. The results show that the in-plane shear strength exists strongly thickness size effect, and high temperature can significantly weaken the transverse strength, especially for transverse compression, and the temperature effect of modulus can be depicted by a specific Gaussian function. In addition, Hashin and Tsai-wu criteria may be more appropriate to predict the bi-axial failure envelop of ${\sigma }_{2}2-{\tau }_{23}$ at high temperature, and Tsai-Wu criterion is better and more suitable than Hashin and Catalanotti criteria for considering bi-axial compression.

Keywords:

• Computational mechanics
• failure prediction
• polymer composites
• RVE
• temperature

Acknowledgements

The first author would like to acknowledge the support by the China Scholarship Council that supported his studies in the National University of Singapore. In addition, the first author would like to thank Prof. Tay Tong Earn from the National University of Singapore for his constructive comments and amendments to this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors sincerely acknowledge financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51975279) and the Aeronautical Science Foundation of China (201941052001).