Macroscale modelling of 3D-woven composites: Elasto-plasticity and progressive damage

Journal article, 2022

There is a growing need across multiple industries for lightweight materials with improved material performance and reduced manufacturing costs. Composites with 3D-woven reinforcement could help fill this need. Their use however, requires the development of computationally efficient and industrially applicable material models to predict their non-linear behaviour. This work proposes a macroscale elasto-plasticity and damage model to capture the experimentally observed inelastic strains and stiffness reductions. The model is general, thermodynamically consistent and allows for various non-linear phenomena to be added and calibrated in a modular fashion depending on loading direction. Further it allows for a simplified parameter identification routine in which the damage and hardening laws are identified directly from experimental curves without the need for complex calibration routines. In order to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed macroscale model, focus is given to predicting the material response of a 3D glass fibre reinforced epoxy material system. The damage and hardening parameters are identified based on uniaxial tensile and in-plane shear experimental curves with unloading cycles. The model performance is validated against an off-axis tensile test with unloading cycles and shows good agreement to the experimental result.