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Polyamides serve as matrix material for fiber reinforced composites and are widely applied in many different engineering applications. In this context, they are exposed to various environmental influences ranging from temperature to humidity. Thus, the influence of these environmental conditions on the mechanical behavior and the associated implications on the performance of the material is of utmost importance. In this work, the thermoviscoelastic behavior of polyamide 6 (PA 6) for two equilibrium moisture contents is investigated. To this end, dynamic mechanical analysis tests with and without humidity control of the environmental chamber were performed. In terms of relaxation tests, the experimental results reveal drying effects and increased diffusion activities when the sample's equilibrium moisture content differs from the ambient humidity level within the testing chamber. Temperature-frequency tests quantify the humidity-induced shift of the glass transition temperature. The linear generalized Maxwell model (GMM) and time-temperature superposition are used to analyze the hydrothermal effects on the linear viscoelastic material properties and the onset of mechanical nonlinearity. Based on these investigations and findings, insight is gained on the humidity influence on the material properties and the limitations of linear thermoviscoelastic modeling. Furthermore, the computational construction of master curves and the parameter identification for a generalized Maxwell model are described in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In scientific studies, sheet metal is usually considered as a two-dimensional body. Thus, it is accepted that material properties are in most cases regarded homogeneous in thickness direction. However, a gradation of certain properties becomes apparent when going beyond the standard characterization methods for sheet metals, which can for example, influence the springback behavior and the thinning of the sheet after forming. Thus, the aim of this work is to further improve the prediction accuracy of springback after forming in simulations, by implementing several inhomogeneous properties over the sheet thickness in an existing material model. For this purpose, the entire procedure from the identification of the inhomogeneous properties for describing the gradation to the implementation in a numerical model and its validation by comparing experimental and simulated bending operations is carried out on a DC04 cold-forming steel in order to prove its influence on the springback behavior. It is shown that including graded material properties in simulations does indeed have an impact on the prediction quality of springback and that the information about inhomogeneous properties can be provided by existing characterization methods with a high local resolution like electron backscatter diffraction or X-ray stress analysis. In a further step, it was possible to validate the improvement in numerical accuracy by comparing the prediction of the springback angle from both the existing and the extended model with experimental bending results. Both the initial model as well as the model supplemented with the 3D properties provide a good prediction accuracy in the solution heat treated material state. For the predeformed material, however, the initial numerical model predicts a springback angle of about 13°, which deviates remarkably from the experimentally obtained mean value of about 17°. The extended model delivers a significantly improved accuracy in springback prediction in relation to the initial prediction (deviation of 4°) with a minor deviation of only about 0.8°, which proves the importance of considering the gradation of material properties in thickness direction for an overall higher dimensional accuracy of sheet metal products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber orientation tensors represent averaged measures of fiber orientations inside a microstructure. Although, orientation-dependent material models are commonly used to describe the mechanical properties of representative microstructure, the influence of changing or differing microstructure on the material response is rarely investigated systematically for directional measures which are more precise than second-order fiber orientation tensors. For the special case of planar orientation distributions, a set of admissible fiber orientation tensors of fourth-order is known. Fiber orientation distributions reconstructed from given orientation tensors are of interest both for numerical averaging schemes in material models and visualization of the directional information itself. Focusing on the special case of planar orientations, this paper draws the geometric picture of fiber orientation distribution functions reconstructed from fourth-order fiber orientation tensors. The developed methodology can be adopted to study the dependence of material models on planar fourth-order fiber orientation tensors. Within the set of admissible fiber orientation tensors, a subset of distinct tensors is identified. Advantages and disadvantages of the description of planar orientation states in two- or three-dimensional tensor frameworks are demonstrated. Reconstruction of fiber orientation distributions is performed by truncated Fourier series and additionally by deploying a maximum entropy method. The combination of the set of admissible and distinct fiber orientation tensors and reconstruction methods leads to the variety of reconstructed fiber orientation distributions. This variety is visualized by arrangements of polar plots within the parameter space of fiber orientation tensors. This visualization shows the influence of averaged orientation measures on reconstructed orientation distributions and can be used to study any simulation method or quantity which is defined as a function of planar fourth-order fiber orientation tensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber orientation tensors are established descriptors of fiber orientation states in (thermo-)mechanical material models for fiber-reinforced composites. In this paper, the variety of fourth-order orientation tensors is analyzed and specified by parameterizations and admissible parameter ranges. The combination of parameterizations and admissible parameter ranges allows for studies on the mechanical response of different fiber architectures. Linear invariant decomposition with focus on index symmetry leads to a novel compact hierarchical parameterization, which highlights the central role of the isotropic state. Deviation from the isotropic state is given by a triclinic harmonic tensor with simplified structure in the orientation coordinate system, which is spanned by the second-order orientation tensor. Material symmetries reduce the number of independent parameters. The requirement of positive-semi-definiteness defines admissible ranges of independent parameters. Admissible parameter ranges for transversely isotropic and planar cases are given in a compact closed form and the orthotropic variety is visualized and discussed in detail. Sets of discrete unit vectors, leading to selected orientation states, are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is devoted to anisotropic continuum-damage mechanics in the quasi-static, isothermal, small-strain setting. We propose a framework for anisotropic damage evolution based on the compliance tensor as primary damage variable, in the context of generalized standard models for dissipative solids. Based on the observation that the Hookean strain energy density of linear elasticity is jointly convex in the strain and the compliance tensor, we design thermodynamically consistent anisotropic damage models that satisfy Wulfinghoff's damage-growth criterion and feature a convex free energy. The latter property permits obtaining mesh-independent results on component scale without the necessity of introducing gradients of the damage field. We introduce the concepts of stress-extraction tensors and damage-hardening functions, implicitly describing a rigorous damage-analogue of yield surfaces in elastoplasticity. These damage surfaces may be combined in a modular fashion and give rise to complex damage-degradation behavior. We discuss how to efficiently integrate Biot's equation implicitly, and show how to design specific stress-extraction tensors and damage-hardening functions based on Puck's anisotropic failure criteria. Last but not least we demonstrate the versatility of our proposed model and the efficiency of the integration procedure for a variety of examples of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber-reinforced polymers contribute significantly to weight-reducing components for various industrial applications. A discontinuous glass fiber-reinforced thermoset resin is considered which is produced by the sheet molding compound (SMC) process. Related to the production process, the samples considered in this work exhibit an anisotropic fiber orientation distribution which highly affects the thermomechanical properties. The thermoviscoelastic material behavior of three selected samples is characterized by means of dynamic mechanical analysis. These tests show the temperature-dependent elastic modulus and the glass transition of the composite. Measurements of the thermal expansion of the SMC composite provide data on the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). These experimental investigations provide data for the thermoelastic material modeling. Aiming at the prediction of the effective thermal and mechanical properties, a Hashin–Shtrikman-based homogenization method is presented. Based on an eigenstrain formulation, the effective Young's modulus and CTE are computed in two steps. Moreover, the mean-field method is given in dependence of a variable reference stiffness allowing to tailor the approach to the material system. The influence of this variable reference stiffness on the effective quantities as well as the predicted behavior is analyzed with respect to the experiments. The presented numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beyond a certain loading threshold, glass-fiber-reinforced polymer composites with vinylester matrix can show considerably nonlinear deformation behavior due to damage of the matrix material. To model such nonlinear deformation properties, we follow the approach of a fully anisotropic damage model suggested by Govindjee et al. (Govindjee S, Kay GJ and Simo JC. Anisotropic modelling and numerical simulation of brittle damage in concrete. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering 1995; 38(21): 3611–3633).In addition, the inter-fiber fracture criterion introduced by Puck (Puck A. Festigkeitsanalyse von Faser-Matrix-Laminaten: Modelle für die Praxis. München, Germany: Hanser Fachbuchverlag, 1996) is used for the damage function that defines the damage initiation and the material strength. A particular procedure is chosen to identify the material properties to validate the model: three glass-fiber-reinforced polymer laminates with different layups are tested in tension under different loading orientations, assuming laminate theory to be reasonably well fulfilled. Finally, further experiments are compared with corresponding simulation results to demonstrate the performance of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical properties of short-fiber reinforced composites are crucially influenced by their microstructure. The microstructure itself is mainly governed by the manufacturing process like injection or compression molding. The main contribution of this paper lies in the homogenization of linear elastic properties using experimental microstructural information. For this purpose, the microstructure of injection-molded specimens made of polypropylene reinforced with 30wt.% of short glass fibers are analyzed through micro-computer tomography (μCT) measurements. Applying a recently developed segmentation algorithm, the spatial position, the orientation distribution and the length of the fibers are determined. This data is evaluated in terms of orientation tensors and length distribution, and is used within three mean field approaches: a self-consistent homogenization method, the interaction direct derivative estimate, which is based on the three-phase model, and a two-step bounding method. All methods account for the orientation, the length and the diameter distribution. The numerical results are compared to experimental tensile tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]