Micromechanical effect of pores on elastic properties of polymer matrix composites

Abstract

Advanced composite polymer matrix and their different manufacturing processes tend to develop pores of varying size and play a major limiting role in residual stress, damage initiation, matrix cracking, strength, and durability. Direct imaging or simulations to understand the pore formation mechanism in the viscous polymer is difficult. Ultimately, the mechanical performance of the solidified matrix needs better prediction. This paper presents a stochastic micromechanical model, including the effect of pores' formation on the polymer matrix's elastic properties. Theoretical homogenization based micromechanical models for polymer composites is reviewed in the first part. Later, a micromechanical model is proposed considering the different stages of pore formation in a polymer matrix. Polymer samples are fabricated for determining the pore distribution parameters and used appropriately in the proposed model to estimate the elastic properties for a given distribution and volume fraction of the pores. A modified Mori‐Tanaka homogenization approach and a differential scheme of inclusion of pores are incorporated in the model. Results obtained from the proposed model are compared with the experimental measurements, and a significant correlation is found.

Effective electromechanical properties and energy harvesting response in PMN-0.3PT/PDMS flexible piezoelectric composites: a combined experimental and theoretical study

“…Effects of voids are seen in experimental data for the higher volume fraction of reinforcement (v r = 0.50). Similar results were previously reported by Chawla et al [41].…”

“…The mismatch between the results may be attributed to the presence of voids in the samples, as mentioned above. Typically, the voids have detrimental effects on the elastic properties of the composites because voids are potential damage sites [41]. The effect of air voids in the PMN-0.3PT/PDMS composites for the unidirectional PMN-0.3PT particles is plotted in figure 5(b).…”

Two‐scale elastic property prediction of 3D printed continuous carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite based on micro‐computed tomography

“…Mori-Tanaka (MT) method [35] was another popular micromechanical method for the analysis of composite materials that considered the interactions between inclusions. [36][37][38][39] Sevostrianov [40] derived the formulations of the effective elastic properties of composite materials consisting of transversely isotropic phases. These models provide lots of facilities for investigating the mechanical behavior of 3D printed CFRTPCs.…”

A modified classic‐micromechanics approach to predict effective elastic properties of nanoparticles reinforced polymers

“…During the past few years, the MTM has been used as the basis of new models in literature; for example, study on thermal expansion coefficients of composite, [ 25 ] filler‐matrix interphase failure, [ 26 ] the effect of pores on elastic properties of polymer matrix composites, [ 27 ] interphase damage of wavy CNT nanocomposite, [ 28 ] and a damage plasticity constitutive model [ 29 ] are the very small number researches with the application of MTM in polymer nanocomposite. Eshelby and MTM have been used to develop the constitutive model and predict effective elastic properties of nanoparticle reinforced elastomeric composites.…”