Mesoscopic strain fields in woven composites: Experiments vs. finiteelement modeling

Detailed determination of strain in woven composite materials is fundamental for understanding their mechanics and for validating sophisticated computational models. The digital image correlation technique is briefly presented and applied to the full-field strain determination in a twill-weave carbonfiber-reinforced-plastic (CFRP) composite under in-plane loading. The experimental results are used to assess companion results obtained with an ad hoc finite element-based model. The DIC vs. FEM comparison is carried out at the mesoscopic scale

Mesoscopic strain fields in woven composites: Experiments vs. finiteelement modeling

Detailed determination of strain in woven composite materials is fundamental for understanding their mechanics and for validating sophisticated computational models. The digital image correlation technique is briefly presented and applied to the full-field strain determination in a twill-weave carbonfiber-reinforced-plastic (CFRP) composite under in-plane loading. The experimental results are used to assess companion results obtained with an ad hoc finite element-based model. The DIC vs. FEM comparison is carried out at the mesoscopic scale

Mesoscopic Strains Maps in Woven Composite Laminas During Off-axis Tension

The mechanics of woven carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites is influenced by the complex architecture of the reinforcement phase. Computational (i.e. finite element based) approaches have been used increasingly to model not only the global laminate stiffness, but also damage evolution and laminate strength. The modeling combines the identification of the architectural unit cell (UC), the selection of suitable constitutive models of the different phases, the creation of a fine discretization of the UC in finite elements, the application of an incremental solution procedure that solves iteratively for the stresses and strains in the UC, [1]. The experimental validation of computational models is carried out mainly at the macroscopical level, i.e. simulation of the macroscopic stress-strain curve. Damage, however, is a localized, straindependent phenomenon and therefore only accurate strain distribution within the UC (at the mesolevel) can identify critical conditions in terms of damage location, extension and evolution. The validation of computational damage procedures is a key task and full-field optical strain analysis methods appear the ideal instrument. However, only limited examples of direct finte element method (FEM) vs experimental strain correlation are found because of the limited sensitivity and spatial resolution of some techniques and the complexity and applicative difficulty of others. The aim of the present paper is to present the application of the digital image correlation (DIC) technique, [2], to the full-field strain analysis at the mesoscopic level (i.e. within the UC) of a woven CFRP lamina when the direction of loading forms an angle to the material direction. The material under consideration is a woven carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite. Orthogonal yarns, each made of of several thousand fibers, are woven according the twill-weave architecture is shown in Fig. 1a. Single-ply laminas were manufactured and tested to eliminate the random 3D influence of multiple-ply laminates and to favor computational model validation. Specimens with different loading directions with respect to the material principal directions were prepared and tested in a servo-hydraulic testing machine. Specimen surface preparation consisted in a speckle pattern generation to allow the application of the DIC tecnique. During the tensile experiment, the speckle pattern is recorded (frame rate of 0.1 picture/second) using a CCD camera equipped with a microscopic lens and adjustable light sources. In-house DIC software was used for in-plane displacement and strain determination and mapping. For brevity only the case of loading in the tow yarn direction is considered here. Fig. 1b shows a tipical strain map obtained with the DIC technique at an applied macroscopic strain of 0.9%. The strains are small but the DIC dechnique is sensitive enough and suitable filtering reduce the noise level of the strain maps. Strong local strain gradients are determined and referred to the yarn architecture in Fig. 1c. The DIC measurements were validated by averaging the strain over the field of view and comparing it with the macroscopic strain given by a high-sensitivity MTS extensometer. The mesoscopic srain data obtained with DIC are used to assess and validate parallel material model development by direct FEM vs experimental strain correlation. Fig. 2a shows the FEM model of the unit cell for the twill-weave architecture with a detail of the yarn geometry and finite element discretization. Suitable boundary conditions are applied to the UC model contours before the analysis, [1]. Fig. 2b shows and example of the comparison of the local longitudinal FEM/DIC strain distribution along a transverse line of Fig. 1c. The comparison shows the excellent correlation achieved both in terms of gradients and absolute strain values, [3]

Mesomechanic strain analysis of twill-weave composite laminaunder unidirectional in-plane tension

The mechanics of a twill-weave carbon fiber reinforced epoxy lamina during inplane tensile loading is experimentally investigated and correlated to computational model prediction. The Digital Image Correlation technique gives the experimental strain distribution at the mesoscopic level. Theoretical strain distributions in the weave architecture are obtained by finite element modeling of the representative volume. The homogenized response is also discussed

Charakteryzacja porów odlewniczych metodami rentgenowskiej tomografii komputerowej i metalografii

Casting porosity is the main factor influencing the fatigue properties of Al-Si alloys. Due to the increasing use of aluminum castings, porosity characterization is useful for estimating their fatigue strength. In principle, a combination of metallographic techniques and statistical pore analysis is a suitable approach for predicting the largest defect size that is critical for the casting. Here, the influence of modifiers and casting technology on the largest pore size population in AISi7Mg alloy specimens is obtained and discussed adopting the Murakami's approach. However, porosity evaluation is a challenge in the case of microshrinkage pores, which are frequently found in industrial castings. Their complicated morphology prevents a reliable definition of an equivalent defect size based on metallographic techniques. This contribution reports the application of X-ray tomography to the 3D reconstruction of real pores in cast Al-Si alloys and provides insight into the complication of microshrinkage pore sizing by metallography.Porowatość odlewów jest głównym czynnikiem wpływającym na właściwości wytrzymałościowe stopów Al-Si. Z uwagi na rosnące zastosowanie odlewów aluminiowych, charakteryzacja ich porowatości nabiera znaczenia dla oceny wytrzymałości zmęczeniowej. Uważa się, że właściwym podejściem jest zastosowanie kombinacji technik metalograficznych i statystycznej analizy porów, co umożliwia przewidywanie największego, krytycznego dla odlewu, rozmiaru defektów. W tej pracy wyznaczano i dyskutowano wpływ modyfikatorów i technologii odlewania na największy rozmiar populacji porów w próbkach stopu AlSi7Mg, przyjmując podejście Mirakami'ego. Ocena porowatości staje się jednak wyzwaniem w przypadku porów związanych z. mikrokurczliwością, które występują często w odlewach przemysłowych. Ich skomplikowana morfologia powoduje, że trudno jest wiarygodnie zdefiniować równoważny rozmiar defektu w oparciu o techniki metalograficzne. Przedstawione doniesienie zawiera opis zastosowania rentgenowskiej tomografii komputerowej do trójwymiarowej rekonstrukcji rzeczywistych porów w odlewie ze stopu AISi i daje pogląd na temat komplikacji w wymiarowaniu porów związanych z mikrokurczliwością metodami metalograficznymi