Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Youqi Wang / Textile composites are made from textile fabric and resin. Depending on the weaving pattern, composite reinforcements can be characterized into two groups: uniform fabric and near-net shape fabric. Uniform fabric can be treated as an assembly of its smallest repeating pattern also called a unit cell; the latter is a single component with complex structure. Due to advantages of cost savings and inherent toughness, near-net shape fabric has gained great success in composite industries, for application such as turbine blades. Mechanical properties of textile composites are mainly determined by the geometry of the composite reinforcements. The study of a composite needs a computational tool to link fabric micro- and macro-geometry with the textile weaving process and composite manufacturing process. A textile fabric consists of a number of yarns or tows, and each yarn is a bundle of fibers. In this research, a fiber-level approach known as the digital element approach (DEA) is adopted to model the micro- and macro-geometry of fabric and fabric reinforced composites. This approach determines fabric geometry based on textile weaving mechanics. A solver with a dynamic explicit algorithm is employed in the DEA. In modeling a uniform fabric, the topology of the fabric unit cell is first established based on the weaving pattern, followed by yarn discretization. An explicit algorithm with a periodic boundary condition is then employed during the simulation. After its detailed geometry is obtained, the unit cell is then assembled to yield a fabric micro-geometry. Fabric micro-geometry can be expressed at both fiber- and yarn-levels. In modeling a near-net shape fabric component, all theories used in simulating the uniform fabric are kept except the periodic boundary condition. Since simulating the entire component at the fiber-level requires a large amount of time and memory, parallel program is used during the simulation. In modeling a net-shape composite, a dynamic molding process is simulated. The near-net shape fabric is modeled using the DEA. Mold surfaces are modeled by standard meshes. Long vertical elements that only take compressive forces are proposed. Finally, micro- and macro-geometry of a fabric reinforced net-shape composite component is obtained.

Textile composites have a wide variety of applications in the aerospace, sports, automobile, marine and medical industries. Due to the availability of a variety of textile architectures and numerous parameters associated with each, optimal design through extensive experimental testing is not practical. Predictive tools are needed to perform virtual experiments of various options. The focus of this research is to develop a better understanding of linear elastic response, plasticity and material damage induced nonlinear behavior and mechanics of load flow in textile composites. Textile composites exhibit multiple scales of complexity. The various textile behaviors are analyzed using a two-scale finite element modeling. A framework to allow use of a wide variety of damage initiation and growth models is proposed. Plasticity induced non-linear behavior of 2x2 braided composites is investigated using a modeling approach based on Hill’s yield function for orthotropic materials. The mechanics of load flow in textile composites is demonstrated using special non-standard postprocessing techniques that not only highlight the important details, but also transform the extensive amount of output data into comprehensible modes of behavior. The investigations show that the damage models differ from each other in terms of amount of degradation as well as the properties to be degraded under a particular failure mode. When compared with experimental data, predictions of some models match well for glass/epoxy composite whereas other’s match well for carbon/epoxy composites. However, all the models predicted very similar response when damage factors were made similar, which shows that the magnitude of damage factors are very important. Full 3D as well as equivalent tape laminate predictions lie within the range of the experimental data for a wide variety of braided composites with different material systems, which validated the plasticity analysis. Conclusions about the effect of fiber type on the degree of plasticity induced non-linearity in a ±25° braid depend on the measure of non-linearity. Investigations about the mechanics of load flow in textile composites bring new insights about the textile behavior. For example, the reasons for existence of transverse shear stress under uni-axial loading and occurrence of stress concentrations at certain locations were explained.

This study is devoted to the development of an integrated numerical modeling enabling one to investigate the static and the dynamic behaviors and failures of 2-D textile composite as well as 3-D orthogonal woven composite structures weakened by cracks and subjected to static-, impact- and ballistic-type loads. As more complicated modeling about textile composite structures is introduced, some of homogenization schemes, geometrical modeling and crack propagations become more difficult problems to solve. To overcome these problems, this study presents effective mesh-generation schemes, homogenization modeling based on a repeating unit cell and sinusoidal functions, and also a cohesive element to study micro-crack shapes. This proposed research has two: 1) studying behavior of textile composites under static loads, 2) studying dynamic responses of these textile composite structures subjected to the transient/ballistic loading. In the first part, efficient homogenization schemes are suggested to show the influence of textile architectures on mechanical characteristics considering the micro modeling of repeating unit cell. Furthermore, the structures of multi-layered or multi-phase composites combined with different laminar such as a sub-laminate, are considered to find the mechanical characteristics. A simple progressive failure mechanism for the textile composites is also presented. In the second part, this study focuses on three main phenomena to solve the dynamic problems: micro-crack shapes, textile architectures and textile effective moduli. To obtain a good solutions of the dynamic problems, this research attempts to use four approaches: I) determination of governing equations via a three-level hierarchy: micro-mechanical unit cell analysis, layer-wise analysis accounting for transverse strains and stresses, and structural analysis based on anisotropic plate layers, II) development of an efficient computational approach enabling one to perform transient response analyses of 2-D plain woven, 2-D braided and 3-D orthogonal woven composite structures featuring matrix cracking and exposed to time-dependent ballistic loads, III) determination of the structural characteristics of the textile-layered composites and their degraded features under smeared and discrete cracks, and assessment of the implications of stiffness degradation on dynamic response to impact loads, and finally, IV) the study of the micro-crack propagation in the textile/ceramic layered plates. A number of numerical models have been carried out to investigate the mechanical behavior of 2-D plain woven, 2-D braided and 3-D orthogonal woven textile composites with several geometrical representations, and also study the dynamic responses of multi-layered or textile layered composite structures subjected to ballistic impact penetrations with a developed in-house code. / Ph. D.

MOJO

abstract: Advanced composites are being widely used in aerospace applications due to their high stiffness, strength and energy absorption capabilities. However, the assurance of structural reliability is a critical issue because a damage event will compromise the integrity of composite structures and lead to ultimate failure. In this dissertation a novel homogenization based multiscale modeling framework using semi-analytical micromechanics is presented to simulate the response of textile composites. The novelty of this approach lies in the three scale homogenization/localization framework bridging between the constituent (micro), the fiber tow scale (meso), weave scale (macro), and the global response. The multiscale framework, named Multiscale Generalized Method of Cells (MSGMC), continuously bridges between the micro to the global scale as opposed to approaches that are top-down and bottom-up. This framework is fully generalized and capable of modeling several different weave and braids without reformulation. Particular emphasis in this dissertation is placed on modeling the nonlinearity and failure of both polymer matrix and ceramic matrix composites. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering 2011

QC 20120131 / MOJO

In the present research project, four braided composite architectures consisting of graphite fibers in an epoxy matrix were tested under static and fatigue loading conditions to determine damage mechanism types and progressions. The braided architectures consisted of straight axial fiber bundles, which were surrounded by braider fiber bundles oriented at ±a 0 with respect to the axial fiber bundles. Static tension and compression testing was completed first to determine material strengths and basic damage modes for each of the architectures. Under static tension loading, cracking in the braider fiber bundles occurred first, and was followed by splitting in curved regions of the axial fiber bundles. Matrix cracking and kink band formation were found to occur under static compression loading. / Ph. D.

Les propriétés élastiques et la résistance à l’endommagement des composites textiles avec mesostructure en faisceaux ont été étudiées dans cette thèse. Le premier chapitre de cette thèse traite la modélisation des propriétés élastiques des composites NCF (Non-Crimp Fabric) pour étudier l'effet des défauts de mesostructure sur la dégradation des propriétés mécaniques. Un modèle pour la mesostructure des composites NCF est réalisé pour étudier l'effet de l'ondulation sur la réduction de la rigidité. Cette dernière est dominée par la réduction de la rigidité de la couche 0°. La rigidité effective de la couche 0° peut être déterminée soit par modélisation d'une seule couche ondulée soumise à un chargement réparti, qui reproduit son interaction avec les couches voisines, avec application des symétries dans les conditions aux limites, ou en utilisant une approche de la courbe maîtresse. Une expression analytique est suggérée. Cette expression permet la détermination du facteur de réduction de rigidité pour toute longueur d'onde et amplitude donnés. L’initiation et le développement des endommagements sont présentés dans le deuxième chapitre, où les composites textiles désignés aux applications à haute température ont été étudiés dans des conditions thermiques sévères pour vérifier leur stabilité thermique et leur résistance aux endommagements thermiques. Finalement, la performance mécanique des composites destinés pour les hautes températures, est étudiée, et l'effet du vieillissement thermique a été analysé. Des modèles 3D ont été réalisés par éléments finis pour expliquer l'effet des bords sur l'évolution des fissures observées lors des essaies de traction. En outre, les différences et les similarités au niveau de fissuration dans les différentes couches sont analysés á travers des approches probabilistes (Monte Carlo, Hashin and shear lag) et aussi la mécanique de la rupture / Textile composites with bundle meso-structure have been studied in this thesis for elastic properties and damage investigations. The first chapter of this thesis deals with elastic properties modeling for Non-crimp fabric (NCF) based composites for investigating the effect of meso-structure defects on mechanical properties degradation. The objective of the work is to formulate a model for the NCF composite mesostructure in an attempt to investigate the effect of the waviness on stiffness reduction. The cross-ply NCF composite stiffness reduction is dominated by the stiffness reduction of the 0°-layer. The 0°-layer effective stiffness can be determined either by modeling a single curved tow subjected to distributed load, to reproduce its interaction with the neighboring layers, together with symmetry boundary conditions, or using a master curve approach, where a knock down factor is introduced to characterize the stiffness reduction and analytical expression is suggested. This expression allows for determination of knock down factor for any given wavelength and amplitude of the waviness. The damage initiation and development is presented is the second chapter, where woven fabric composites designated for high temperature application were investigated under severe thermal conditions to study their thermal stability and their resistance to thermal damage. Finally, the mechanical performance of the composites designated to high temperature applications was studied. The effect of aging was also investigated. 3D models were realized with Finite elements in order to explain the edge effect on the evolution of the cracks observed during the tensile tests. In addition, the differences and similarities in cracking in different layers were analysed using probabilistic approaches (a simple one as well as Monte Carlo simulations with Hashin’s and also shear lag model) and fracture mechanics arguments

<div>Textile composites have been widely used due to the excellent mechanical performance and lower manufacturing costs, but the accurate prediction of the mechanical behaviors of textile composites is still very challenging due to the complexity of the microstructures and boundary conditions. Moreover, there is an unprecedented amount of design options of different textile composites. Therefore, a highly efficient yet accurate approach, which can predict the macroscopic structural performance considering different geometries and materials at subscales, is urgently needed for the structural design using textile composites.</div><div><br></div><div>Mechanics of structure genome (MSG) is used to perform multiscale modeling to predict various performances of textile composite materials and structures. A two-step approach is proposed based on the MSG solid model to compute the elastic properties of different two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) woven composites. The first step computes the effective properties of yarns at the microscale based on the fiber and matric properties. The effective properties of yarns and matrix are then used at the mesoscale to compute the properties of woven composites in the second step. The MSG plate and beam models are applied to thin and slender textile composites, which predict both the structural responses and local stress field. In addition, the MSG theory is extended to consider the pointwise temperature loads by modifying the variational statement of the Helmholtz free energy. Instead of using coefficients of thermal expansions (CTEs), the plate and beam thermal stress resultants derived from the MSG plate and beam models are used to capture the thermal-induced behaviors in thin and slender textile composite structures. Moreover, the MSG theory is developed to consider the viscoelastic behaviors of textile composites based on the quasi-elastic approach. Furthermore, a meso-micro scale coupled model is proposed to study the initial failure of textile composites based on the MSG models which avoids assuming a specific failure criterion for yarns. The MSG plate model uses plate stress resultants to describe the initial failure strength that can capture the stress gradient along the thickness in the thin-ply textile composites. The above developments of MSG theory are validated using high-fidelity 3D finite element analysis (FEA) or experimental data. The results show that MSG achieves the same accuracy of 3D FEA with a significantly improved efficiency.</div><div> </div><div>Taking advantage of the advanced machine learning model, a new yarn failure criterion is constructed based on a deep neural network (DNN) model. A series of microscale failure analysis based on the MSG solid model is performed to provide the training data for the DNN model. The DNN-based failure criterion as well as other traditional failure criteria are used in the mesoscale initial failure analysis of a plain woven composite. The results show that the DNN yarn failure criterion gives a better accuracy than the traditional failure criteria. In addition, the trained model can be used to perform other computational expensive simulations such as predicting the failure envelopes and the progressive failure analysis.</div><div> </div><div>Multiple software packages (i.e., texgen4sc and MSC.Patran/Nastran-SwiftComp GUI) are developed to incorporate the above developments of the MSG models. These software tools can be freely access and download through cdmHUB.org, which provide practical tools to facilitate the design and analysis of textile composite materials and structures.</div>

With increased use of carbon fibre (CF)-based textile-reinforced thermoplastic composites, the demand of hybrid yarns consisting of carbon filament yarns (CFYs) and thermoplastic filament yarns with improved properties is also high. Hybrid yarn manufacturing using commingling process by means of compressed air shows some distinct advantages over other hybrid yarn manufacturing processes. However, the potential of commingling process for the production of CF-based thermoplastic hybrid yarns is not yet fully explored. In this article, extensive investigations have been carried out for the development of commingled hybrid yarns manufactured from CFY and polyamide 6,6 (PA 6,6) filament yarns with improved adhesion properties between CFY and matrix in composites. Hybrid yarns are manufactured by varying air pressure and keeping overfeeds and delivery speed constant. Moreover, an additional heat treatment on CFY is done online for a better opening of CFY prior to the mixing with PA 6,6 filament yarn. The tensile properties of hybrid yarns as well as different mechanical properties of unidirectional composite, such as tensile, flexural, impact and interlaminar shear strength are investigated. The results show good potential for the development of hybrid yarns produced from CFY and thermoplastic filament yarns with improved adhesion properties for their application in textile-reinforced thermoplastic composites.