Damage modelling of thin-ply nano-reinforced composite laminates

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2017

Authors

Furtado, C (Author) FEUP; Ni, X (Author) Other; Kalfon Cohen, E (Author) Other; Arteiro, A (Author) FEUP; Wardle, BL (Author) Other; Camanho, PP (Author) FEUP

Conference proceedings International

Title: ICCM International Conferences on Composite Materials

21st International Conference on Composite Materials, ICCM 2017

20 August 2017 through 25 August 2017

Indexing

Scopus - 4 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00P-MBV

Abstract (EN): Composite laminates composed of unidirectional carbon fibre-epoxy plies nano-stitched together with vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays (A-CNT) have been recently developed. This technology has proven to improve both interlaminar and intralaminar composite strength and toughness. The consequences of nanostitching interfaces has mainly been studied by measuring the Interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) of nanostitched interfaces and the respective baseline configurations of the same material system using short beam shear tests. In this study, short beam shear tests of unreinforced and nanostitched samples are modelled to better understand what are the effects of this type of nano-reinforcement on the mechanics of fracture of composite materials. Intralaminar damage is simulated using a continuum damage model previously proposed in the literature [1]¿[3]. Interlaminar damage was simulated using a cohesive zone model implemented in ABAQUS. It was considered that the inclusion of carbon nanotubes in the interfaces leads to an increase of mode I and mode II fracture toughnesses. Since the enhancement factor was unknown, the fracture toughness of reinforced interfaces was inversely identified by analyzing the damage propagation and load displacement curves predicted by the models. The numerical results suggest that the nanostitched interfaces are ~5% or ~10-15% tougher than unreinforced interfaces depending on the carbon fibre-epoxy material system used.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific