Abstract

This paper examines the mechanical behavior of the short fiber reinforced plastic (SFRP) considering the microstructure using multi-scale simulation. The SFRP, which the microstructure consists of resin and fiver, has a rate, thermal, and fiber orientation dependency. The mechanical property is predicted by matrix and fiber properties. However, the properties by material testing are different from the prediction. Thus, this paper decides each microscopic material parameter on microstructure by the least-square method using the experimental data. Comparing the macro simulation results using homogenized values and the experimental results shows microstructure influences the macroscopic behavior. Moreover, the numerical examples compare the results under two types of tensile speed and three fiber orientation types. The present work completes the multi-scale simulation using a simple microstructure considering fiber orientation and strain rate.

Abstract

The prediction of the fiber orientation in thermoplastic composites, manufactured by the injection moulding process, allows the determination of the mechanical behaviour with greater precision.

In the present work, the prediction of the fibre orientation made by the Autodesk Moldflow Insight program has been analysed through the ARD-RSC model.

This model presents six coefficients that can be modified and according to which values take the result of the prediction of the orientation of the fiber will be different. That is why the response surface method has been applied to know the relationship between the coefficients of the ARD-RSC model and its prediction of fibre orientation.

The precision and correlation of this calculated fiber orientation has been analysed in two ways. The first of them using tomographic analysis with which you can visualize and compare with the actual arrangement of the fibre in the thermoplastic composite and the second moving the orientation calculated by Autodesk Moldflow Insight to the Digimat program and comparing its prediction of mechanical properties with the real properties that the thermoplastic composite presents in the mechanical tests carried out.

Taking into account the modification of the coefficients, the improvement of the correlation between the experimental test and the structural simulation has been observed in the analyzed component.