The study of Elastic Modulus and Thermal Conductivity of Different Fiber Cross-section of Fiber-Reinforced Composite in ANSYS

Abstract

Abstract This work aims to predict the elastic modulus and effective thermal conductivity of the fiber-reinforced polymer composites. A representative volume element (RVE) of size 420 × 420 × 420 micron has been created in Solid-works with 10%, 17%, 27%, 40%, and 54% of fiber volume. The fiber of circular, square, and hexagonal cross-sections are considered in this analysis. The symmetric boundary conditions are applied to the RVE for determining the elastic modulus of the fiber-reinforced polymer. It has been observed from the ANSYS that the results are not exactly similar to the rule of mixture. The results are varying with a change in the cross-section of the fiber. It has been observed that elastic modulus is increasing with the increase in fiber density. It is also noticed that the elastic modulus is increased when the cross-section changes from circular to square to a hexagon with all said fiber volume. It is attributed that due to an increase in the fiber-matrix contact surface area, the adhesion between fiber and matrix increased. Surprisingly it observed that in all the cases the elastic modulus has decreased after 40% of volume fraction. This may be endorsed that due to higher fiber volume fraction the adhesion between fiber-matrices is not appropriate. Further study has revealed that the modulus of the composite is in accordance with the rule of the mixture when RVE has been prepared with a combination of circle, square, and hexagon. The effective thermal conductivity of the same RVE model has been carried out in ANSYS. It has found out that effective thermal conductivity is in reasonable agreement with the rule of mixture.</jats:p