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Porosity in polymer matrix composites generated during pyrolysis process affect the thermomechanical behavior of the composites. In this paper, multislice finite element models for the porous composite materials are developed, and poroelastic and failure analysis for these models are performed. In order to investigate the three-dimensional effects, finite element meshes are modeled considering different porosity(up to 0.5) and the number of slices (up to five). As a result, effective Young's moduli and poroelastic parameters exhibit the maximum differences of 74.0% and 442.1% with respect to porosity respectively, and 98.7% and 37.2% with respect to the number of slices. First and last failure strengths are decreased 88.2% and 90.0% with respect to porosity respectively, and 53.8% and 171.8% with respect to the number of slices.

Porosity in polymer matrix composites increases rapidly during thermochemical decomposition at high temperatures. The generation of pores reduces elastic moduli and failure strengths of composite materials, and gas pressures in internal pores influence thermomechanical behaviors. In this paper, micromechanical finite element analysis is carried out by using two-dimensional representative volume elements for unidirectionally fiber-reinforced composites with porous matrix. According to the state of the pores, effective elastic moduli, poroelastic parameters and failure strengths of the overall composites are investigated in detail. In particular, it is confirmed that the failure strengths in the transvers and through-thickness directions are predicted much more weakly than the strength of nonpored matrix, and decrease consistently as the porosity of matrix increases.

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