Behaviour and damage of injected carbon-fibre-reinforced polyether ether ketone: From process to modelling

Abstract

Short-carbon-fibre-reinforced polyether ether ketones are materials of great interest for the aeronautical industry. In this study, a design of experiment was carried out to understand the effect of process parameters on micro- and macro-scale properties of injection-moulded short-carbon-fibre-reinforced polyether ether ketone (90HMF40). Mould temperature was found to be the most significant parameter; it had a positive effect, essentially on failure stress and strain. Once the damage and plasticity scenarios were understood, a micromechanical model based on Mori–Tanaka homogenization theory was developed, featuring micro-damage and coupling with macro-plasticity. This model gave good predictions for quasi-static tensile tests.