High-fidelity micro-scale modeling of the thermo-visco-plastic behavior of carbon fiber polymer matrix composites

Abstract

An experimentally validated micro-scale analysis of the visco-thermo-mechanical behavior of polymer matrix composites under different loads is proposed. A new constitutive law for the matrix material is developed taking into account the pressure dependence of the material as well as strain-rate and temperature dependence. Capturing the matrix behavior under multi-axial stress states is concluded to be essential to accurately predict the composite material behavior, even when considering simple load cases such as transverse compression and/or shear. Without any calibration procedure at the composite level, good agreement with the experimental data is observed for different loading conditions, including strain-rate dependency. Using this validated micro-scale model, a three-dimensional simulation of the formation of a kink band under longitudinal compression of the composite is conducted. A new evidence at micro-scale is found supporting the hypothesis that shear stresses transferred between fibers and matrix are particularly important in the formation of the kink band.

Corrigendum to “High-fidelity micro-scale modeling of the thermo-visco-plastic behavior of carbon fiber polymer matrix composites” [Compos Struct 134 (2015) 132–141]

“…Taking this into consideration, Figure 1(a) demonstrates that the shear prediction for the unmodified paraboloid yield criterion (Eq. (1) in the original article [1]) is in fact in good agreement with the experimental shear behavior of the epoxy matrix. Therefore, the authors recommend to ignore the proposed modification to the yield criterion, i.e.…”

“…It is clarified that the hardening laws are inputed as tabular values respectively from the tensile and compressive experimental response after the stress reaches σ Y T ≈ 3.3 MPa and σ Y C ≈ 58.0 MPa. These values of σ Y T and σ Y C are lower than previously reported [1] in order to better replicate the experimental curves, but this choice does not have significant influence since the nonlinearity until the previously reported values is small.…”

“…Eqs. (2)(3)(4)(5) and Appendix A in [1], since the correction for shear is minimal and does not lead to a significant improvement in the predictions of the composite response.…”

“…Recall that the material constants α n are used in the hardening laws and are related to the strain-rate dependency of the material as defined previously in the original article [1], see also Eq. (3) included herein.…”

“…The authors would like to inform that one of the modifications proposed in the article "High-fidelity micro-scale modeling of the thermo-visco-plastic behavior of carbon fiber polymer matrix composites" [1] was found to be unnecessary: the paraboloid yield criterion is sufficient to describe the shear behavior of the epoxy matrix considered (Epoxy 3501-6). The authors recently noted that the experimental work [2] used to validate the pure matrix response considered engineering shear strain instead of its tensorial counter-part, which caused the apparent inconsistency with the paraboloid yield criterion.…”