Calibration of the PA6 Short-Fiber Reinforced Material Model for 10% to 30% Carbon Mass Fraction Mechanical Characteristic Prediction.

Short-fiber reinforced composites are widely used for the mass production of high-resistance products with complex shapes. Efficient structural design requires consideration of plasticity and anisotropy. This paper presents a method for the calibration of a general material model for stress-strain curve prediction for short-fiber reinforced composites with different fiber mass fractions. A Mori-Tanaka homogenization scheme and the J2 plasticity model with layered defined fiber orientation were used. The hardening laws: power, exponential, and exponential and linear were compared. The models were calibrated using experimental results for melt front, orientation tensor analysis, fiber length, and diameter and tension according to ISO 527-2, for samples of PA6 which were either non-reinforced, or reinforced with 10%, 15%, 20%, and 30% carbon fiber mass fractions. The novelty of this study lies in the transition from the strain-stress space to the strain-stress-fiber fraction space in the approximation of the material model parameters. We found it necessary to significantly reduce the fiber aspect ratio for the correct prediction of the mechanical characteristics of a composite using the Mori-Tanaka scheme. This deviation was caused by the ideal solution of ellipsoidal inclusion in this homogenization scheme. The calculated strength limits using Tsai-Hill failure criteria, based on strain, could be used as a first approximation for failure prediction.

Effect of Fiber Mass Fraction on Microstructure and Properties of 2D CF-GO/EP Composite Prepared by VIHPS.

Graphene is often used to improve interlaminar fracture toughness of carbon fiber/epoxy resin (CF/EP) composites. It is still a challenge to improve the toughness while maintaining the in-layer properties. In this study, 2D graphene oxide carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin matrix (2D CF-GO/EP) composites were prepared by a vacuum infiltration hot-press forming experimental system (VIHPS), and three-point flexural and end notch flexural (ENF) tests were carried out. With the increase of the fiber mass fraction in the composites, the mode II interlaminar fracture toughness (GIIC) layers decrease gradually, and the bond property between the fiber and matrix interface layer becomes worse, because the accumulation of dense fiber bundles reduces the matrix penetration ability of cracks. However, the flexural properties increased first and then decreased, and reached the best flexural properties at 64.9%. When the fiber mass fraction is too high, the interlamellar bonding properties will decrease, and the fiber bundles will compress and affect each other. The delamination phenomenon will occur between the layers of the composites, which affects the overall bearing strength and stress limit of the composites. The results of the study show that the composites prepared by VIHPS have excellent mechanical properties, and the content of carbon fiber plays an important role in the influencing factors of the interlaminar and in-layer properties of composites.