Analysis of the tufting process, an alternative to suppress delamination. A mesomechanical approach

Abstract

Among the numerous strategies available for suppressing/decreasing delamination of laminated composite materials, the current work is focused on the tufting process. A literature study is carried out to underscore the advantages of this technology over alternative manufacturing techniques.  The current paper presents with a mesomechanical composite modeling approach, based on a MMF (MicroMechanics of Failure) micromechanics scheme.  The type of composite material analyzed here is a conventional ply laminate tufted along its thickness.  In terms of mesomechanics, a new unit cell is described and formulated. In order to assess the accuracy of the current approach, three theory-experiment correlations studies have been carried out, the results obtained being quite accurate.

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