Experimental Investigation and Finite Element Simulation of Fracture Process of Polymer Composite Material with Short Carbon Fibers

Abstract

This work is devoted to the research of mechanical and strength properties of polymer composite material with short carbon fibers produced by injection molding technology. The material is PEEK90HMF20 with 20 % of carbon fibers mass fraction and based on polyether ether ketone (PEEK) polymer matrix. Mechanical and strength properties were researched on samples that had been cut from molded plates. A set of tension tests was performed and stress-strain diagrams of samples with different orientation in relation to the global direction of injection were obtained. Two-step homogenization procedure and pseudo-grains failure model were used to describe composite material behavior. The material model parameters were calibrated with experimental data by means of reverse-engineering procedure. Finite element simulation of tension tests was performed to check the quality of built model from the point of view of its ability to predict failure.