Monthly Archives: April 2025

‘Characterization Of Progressive Damage Behaviour And Failure Mechanism Of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composite Laminates – Nature’

Nature Apr 21, 2025

The progressive damage behavior and failure mechanism of molded carbon fiber reinforced composite laminates under tensile and three-point bending loads were studied. The mechanical properties and failure mechanism of composite laminates were studied by theoretical analysis numerical simulation and experimental characterization. The results show that the tensile failure mode of molded carbon fiber reinforced composite laminates presents the phenomenon of resin matrix cross-section fracture fiber fracture and fiber pull-out. Under three-point bending load the main failure modes of molded carbon fiber reinforced composite laminates are matrix crack interlayer separation and fiber fracture. Based on the progressive energy dissipation theory and the incremental method the FEA-VUMAT model is established which can accurately predict the tensile three-point bending response and failure mechanism. The predicted load8211displacement curves and load disturbance curves of the model are in good agreement with the experimental results. The prediction accuracy of the maximum tensile load flexural modulus and flexural strength is 97 96 and 93 respectively which verifies the validity of the model.

‘Numerical Simulation Of Multistable Flower-shaped Composite Laminates With Axisymmetric Layups – Nature’

Nature Apr 22, 2025

Multistability is the phenomenon by which a material changes shape quickly between multiple stable states upon the application of an external trigger. Typically fibre-reinforced composites assembled into laminates with 177820145176 or 017690176 layup exhibit bistability. These materials have commonly rectangular geometries restricting their integration into more complex systems such as soft robotic actuators or biomimetic devices. One approach to increase the number of stable states is to locally vary the fibre orientation while tailoring the geometry of the bilayer laminate. This strategy is explored here using flower-shaped laminates as proof-of-concept. The dimensions of the flower8217s petals as well as the local fibres8217 orientations are varied using local and global coordinates systems. The morphing and the number of stable states are studied using the Finite Element Method FEM under various mechanical loading methods. The results demonstrate that multistability can be obtained by varying the geometry and the local fibre orientations. Generally larger width-to-length ratios for the petals are also better for generating stable states. The simulated results are compared and discussed and could be used as a benchmark for exploring such systems in experiments or for designing even more complex multistable structures to meet the needs of soft robotics or other applications.