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A Self-contained Module for Predicting Micro-scale Material Properties during Fiber-reinforced Polymer Processing

Kennon Products, Inc., 2071 North Main Street, Sheridan WY 82801, USA

David E. Walrath

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wyoming Laramie, WY 82071, USA, walrath{at}uwyo.edu

A finite element-based approach was created to generate fiber scale permeability and thermal conductivity tensors for unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites. This model used fiber radius, volume fraction, and symmetry angle in addition to an assigned temperature and pressure gradient as inputs. Results and comparisons are presented for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids. Permeability and conductivity values generated by the model agreed strongly with experimental and numerical data obtained by other research. The model was also able to capture the dependence of these tensors on fiber structure and fluid properties. This was accomplished within the confines of a small computational domain.

Key Words: repeating unit cell • permeability • thermal conductivity • Non-Newtonian porous medium flow • unidirectional fiber reinforcement.

This version was published on November 1, 2009

Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials, Vol. 22, No. 6, 727-751 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0892705709105967


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