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Project

Characterisation of the spatial variability in the mechanical properties of textile composites by multiscale modelling and experimental validation.

The research goals of this project are (1) to build up knowledge to understand the fundamental mechanisms that determine spatial scatter in material properties, (2) to make a first attempt in the quantification of the magnitude of spatial scatter in selected material properties in different types of textile composites, (3) to model the propagation of the effect of spatial scatter in transition from the meso-level to the macro-level, and to establish the proper correlation between different material parameters at the macro-level, and (4) to determine the effect of spatial scatter on overall material properties, and to validate the numerical analysis with an experiment. The test materials will be selected to represent reinforcements of the types, most used in aeronautic and automotive industries: woven, braided and non-crimp fabrics. The typical sources of variability in composites, reinforced with these materials are: misalignment of the yarns and variation of dimensions of their cross-sections; variations of the braiding angle and variation of the placement of the stitching and the distortions of the fibers created by the stitching (for NCF).
Date:1 Jan 2009 →  31 Dec 2012
Keywords:Spatial scatter, Material properties, Textile composites, Composite materials, Stiffness properties
Disciplines:Aerospace engineering, Automotive engineering, Composites and hybrid materials