New paper in Composites Part A: "Multi-scale modeling of distortion in the non-flat 3D woven composite part manufactured using Resin Transfer Molding"

Dear Fellow Mechanicians: 

I am happy to share our new paper on the Multi-scale modeling of distortion in the non-flat 3D woven composite part manufactured using Resin Transfer Molding published in Composite Part A (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359835X20303833). Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing (10.1016/j.compositesa.2020.106145). It is a result of the very extensive collaboration of Ecole Polytechnique Montreal (https://www.polymtl.ca/lm2/en) and Safran Group (https://www.safran-group.com/).

Abstract: 

This paper presents a multi-scale thermo-chemo-mechanical simulation predicting the distortion of a 3D woven composite part manufactured using the Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) process. The multi-scale numerical procedure relied on an anisotropic temperature- and degree of cure-dependent viscoelastic constitutive law whose parameters were obtained from experimental data and a blackbox optimization algorithm. Analytical (at the micro-scale) and numerical (at the meso-scale) homogenization procedures were used to compute the effective coefficients of thermal expansion and chemical shrinkage. An actual 3D woven non-flat composite specimen exhibiting variations in properties and thickness was designed and manufactured using the RTM process. The contoured geometry of the manufactured part was digitized using an industrial optical 3D scanner and compared against the developed multi-scale numerical predictions. It was found that the presented approach was capable of qualitative and, in some cases, quantitative prediction with the highest accuracy 2.8% of manufacturing-induced geometrical distortions.

Please let me know if you have any comments/questions/suggestions (anton.trofimov@polymtl.ca). Thank you. 

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Best Regards,

Anton Trofimov, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Laboratory for Multiscale Mechanics (LM2)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal

5155, Chemin de la rampe Montreal, H3S 5G4, Montreal, Quebec

Office: Pavillon JAB, J5039

Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anton_Trofimov

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AjrLIssAAAAJ&hl=en