Deconsolidation behavior of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics

Abstract

The thermal deformation, which is called “deconsolidation” or “springback,” is often observed when the randomly oriented short carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics are heated. In the present study, the deconsolidation effect of two kinds of randomly oriented short carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics was studied experimentally and theoretically. The deconsolidation ratios were measured as the thickness ratio of the deformed randomly oriented short carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics in the experiments. The results indicated that the deconsolidation of the randomly oriented short carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics is caused by the release of the molding elastic deformation of fibers. Structural and molding factors that can affect the deconsolidation ratio were defined and empirical fitting functions were established. The deconsolidation ratios calculated by the functions were compared with the experimental results and the agreement was found to be satisfactory. At last, the fiber volume fraction effect and molding pressure effect on the deconsolidation ratio were investigated using the equations.