A general micromechanical model to predict elastic and strength properties of balanced plain weave fabric composites

Abstract

In the present research, a micromechanical-analytical model was developed to predict the elastic properties and strength of balanced plain weave fabric composites. In this way, a new homogenization method has been developed by using a laminate analogy method for the balanced plain weave fabric composites. The proposed homogenization method is a multi-scale homogenization procedure. This model divides the representative volume element to several sub-elements, in a way that the combination of the sub-elements can be considered as a laminated composite. To determine the mechanical properties of laminates, instead of using an iso-strain assumption, the assumptions of constant in-plane strains and constant out-of-plane stress have been considered. The applied assumptions improve the accuracy of prediction of mechanical properties of balanced plain weave fabrics composites, especially the out-of-plane elastic properties. Also, the stress analysis for prediction of strain–stress behavior and strength has been implemented in a similar manner. In addition, the nonlinear mechanical behavior of balanced plain weave composite is studied by considering the inelastic mechanical behavior of its polymeric matrix. To assess the accuracy of the present model, the results were compared with available results in the literature. The results, including of engineering constants (elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio) and stress–strain behavior show the accuracy of the present model.