Abstract
A numerical simulation is presented to discuss the microscopic damage and its influence on the strength and energy-absorbing capability of short fiber-reinforced plastic composites. The dominant damage includes matrix cracking and/or interfacial debonding, when the fibers are shorter than the critical length for fiber breakage. The simulation addresses the matrix cracking with a continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model and the interfacial debonding with an embedded process zone (EPZ) model. The fictitious edge effects on the fracture modes are successfully eliminated with the periodic-cell simulation. We investigated the effect of the material microstructure on the fracture modes in the composites. The simulated results clarified that the inter-fiber distance affects the breaking strain of the composites and the fiber orientation angle affects the positions of the damage initiation. These factors influence the strength and energy-absorbing capability of short fiber-reinforced composites.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - 2008 |
| Event | US-Japan Conference on Composite Materials 2008, US-Japan 2008 - Tokyo, Japan Duration: 2008 Jun 6 → 2008 Jun 7 |
Other
| Other | US-Japan Conference on Composite Materials 2008, US-Japan 2008 |
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| Country/Territory | Japan |
| City | Tokyo |
| Period | 08/6/6 → 08/6/7 |
Keywords
- Fiber-reinforced plastics
- Finite-element method
- Fracture
- Micromechanics
- Short fibers
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ceramics and Composites