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Influence of Meso-Scale Material Properties on Macro-Mechanical Behavior of Three-Dimensional Four-Directional Braided Composites under Uniaxial Tensile Load

J. Xin, Z. Fang, S. Yasong

Journal of Ceramic Science and Technology, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2022), pp. 83-98

DOI: 10.4416/JCST2021-00017

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Abstract

Herein, a novel non-linear finite element model (FEM) is presented to investigate the influence of meso-scale material properties on the uniaxial tensile behavior of three-dimensional, four-directional braided composites. A reconstructed representative volume element (RVE) model is first introduced based on the micro-computed tomography (µ-CT) data and several damage modes, representing damage of yarns, matrix and the yarn/yarn and yarn/matrix interfaces, are taken into account in the meso-scale FEM model. The simulated mechanical behaviors and damage evolutions under longitudinal, transverse and off-axis tension were presented and analyzed. Furthermore, a numerical parametric study is conducted to evaluate the influence of several key meso-scale material properties on the macro stress-strain relationship and ultimate strength. The preliminary results reveal that, under longitudinal tensile load, the shear strength renders a more significant effect than the interface properties on longitudinal tensile strength because the shear stress decreases the longitudinal load capacity of yarns, however, the interface debonding only alters the complex stress state. On the other hand, under transverse tensile load, the yarn transverse direction and interface are the main load transfer routes. Thus, the transverse damage of yarns and interface damage coexist and compete, where the weaker one determines the transverse strength. The current work presents an efficient strategy to improve the performance of composites under a specific load. Also, it indicates that further work is required to obtain more accurate meso-scale material parameters.

Keywords

Four-directional braided composites, ceramic matrix composites, damage models, failure mechanism, meso-scale material properties

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