Workshop Svtlanka 2012

17. - 20. z Rokytnice nad Jizerou

PREDICTION OF ELASTIC TENSILE BEHAVIOUR AND INITIAL FAILURE OF GEOCOMPOSITES REINFORCED WOVEN FABRICS IN 3D-SIMULATION BY TEXGEN AND ANSYS SOFTWARES
Nhan Phan Thanh Technical University of Liberec, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Applied Mechanics, Czech Republic. Tel. +420 773 06 18 35. Email: nhancohoc@yahoo.com
Abstract: The article presents simulation of geocomposites reinforced woven fabric to predict elastic behaviour and initial failure of them in tension. Author used TexGen and Ansys softwares which combine integration of models and design tools for different hierarchical scales of textile composites with integration from making model, assigning material to the composite part to analyzing strain and stress states in them. The properties of the textile composite are determined by the architecture of the reinforcement and properties of the constituents. The attention is focused on prediction of the mechanical properties of textile composites: stiffness, strength and initial failure resistance. Results from simulation were also compared with from experiment. Key words: 3D-simulation, prediction, geocomposites, woven fabric

1 Introduction
Geocomposites are fibre reinforced composite materials, which combine geopolymer and form of a textile fabric (woven, knitted, braided) [10]. The excellent mechanical properties of geocomposites are lightweight, high relative strength, and ideal fire resistant (can sustain temperatures up to 1250oC with long term exposure) but non toxic fumes and smokes, and resisting all inorganic solvents [1]. In the other hand, the use of woven fabric brings benefits in handability of the fabrics (hence in automation possibilities and in cost) and in easier applicability of closed-mould processes. However, the woven fabric is created by the placement of interlacing the yarns that means waviness of yarns are formed. This leads to drawbacks in comparison with unidirectional laminates: lower stiffness of the composite due to inclination of fibres to the direction of the loading and somehow earlier damage initiation due to the presence of resin-rich zones created by the internal architecture of the textile. The complex structure of textile composite comprises several hierarchical levels: macro (composite component or sub-component) meso (unit cell of the reinforcement structure) micro (fibre placement inside yarns and fibrous plies). The most specific to textile composites is meso-level, where the structure-dependent behaviour of the material is most pronounced [10]. The attention of paper was focused on prediction of the mechanical of textile composite and analysis of strain and stress in unit cell of the composite. Results from simulation were also compared with from experiments.

2 Experimental design
2.1 Experiment to measure mechanical properties of resin The geopolymer resin were produced from amount of white powder called Aluminosilicate FC4 and a little grey powder called Metakaolin M4 and activator solution NaOH/KOH with a mass-in-gram ratio 100:14:90. This combination were stirred by machine generated a completely homogeneous resin. The resin was put then in a fridge within 10 minutes before of use.The homogeneous resin was poured into cylindrical molds for making compression samples and into beam-shape molds for making flexural molds. All geopolymer samples were dried naturally and kept in a room condition for 30 days before of test. The mechanical properties of geopolymer resin (isotropic):

Workshop Svtlanka 2012

17. - 20. z Rokytnice nad Jizerou

Density: Young modulus: Shear modulus: Poison ratio: Ultimate stress in tension Ultimate stress in compression

= 2 g/cm3 E = 11.7 GPa G = 5.57 GPa = 0.05 ut = 27.8 MPa, correspond to ut = 0.44% uc = 88.9 MPa, correspond to uc = 3.23%

2.2 Experiment to measure mechanical properties of fabric Carbon woven fabric were used to make geocomposite. Fabric samples for tensile testing were cut in warp and weft directions with dimensions according to EN ISO 13934. Tensile region of samples has 60 mm wide, 120 mm long, and 0.24 mm thick. Two fixed regions of samples were spread geopolymer resin with the purpose of hardening them in oder to grip more easily. The samples were fixed by two special grips inserted rubber pads to protect fabrics from tearing (fig. 1b). All samples were tested on Universal Tensile Testing machine Tira Model 2810 with a rate of 1 mm/min. Experiment results show that mechanical properties of carbon textile in warp and weft direction are similar. Fig. 1a shows a fabric structure. The mechanical properties of a single fibre (orthotropic) E1 = 25.2 GPa E2 = E 3 = 15GPa G12 = G23 = G31 = 8 GPa 12 = 0.38 23 = 0.35 31 = 0.05 = 1.77 Mg/m3 u = 284 MPa Where E1, u were determined from experiment while the others were obtained from the producer. 2.3 Experiment to measure mechanical properties of geocomposite The fabrication method of samples is manufactured by hand lay up technique. Total procedure can be described shortly in the following. Firstly, the weaves are cut for suitable dimension of the rectangular shapes. Then they are placed on the flat plate and rolled with resin by a handing roller. Continuously, geocomposite plate is put in vacuum bagging to remove the bubbles mixed in matrix. Finally, the plate is cured in a furnace setup at optimal temperature 80oC and compressed by a mass. The time for vacuum and curing are 1 hour and 24 hours. The dried composite plate is removed from furnace and is cut into specimens for tension mode in accordance with ASTM C 1275 00. In general, specimens have 15 mm in width and 220 mm in length approximately (Fig. 1c). All composite samples were tested on Universal Tensile Testing machine Tira Model 2810 with a rate of 1 mm/min.
Fig. 1 a. Carbon woven structure b. Tensile test of fabric c. Tensile test of composite d. Composite failure a b c d

The main properties of woven fabric Name: Carbon HTS 5631 800tex 12K Model: Plain Density: 200 g/m2 Thickness: 0.24 mm Yarn width: 1.8 mm Yarn spacing: 2.0 mm Yarn height: 0.12 mm

Workshop Svtlanka 2012

17. - 20. z Rokytnice nad Jizerou

Here are properties of geocomposite reinforced carbon woven fabric. Number of layers: 5 Thickness: 1.48 mm Density: 1.51 g/cm3 Fraction of fibre volume: 0.39 Fraction of resin volume: 0.40 In warp direction: E = 12.6 GPa u = 193.4 MPa, u = 2.40% In weft direction: E = 12.5 GPa u = 190.4 MPa, u = 2.43%

Experiment results show that mechanical properties of geocomposite in warp and weft direction are nearly similar.

3 Simulation of the repeating unit cell of the geocomposite

3.1 Model of internal architecture of woven laminate A geometrical model of woven fabric can describe actual placement of the yarns in unit cell space and can calculate dimensions and waveness (crimp) of the yarns. The data inputs are given to the geometrical model: type of interlacing, number of warp yarns and weft yarns and number of layers in a unit cell, yarn width, yarn height, shape of yarn cross section, fabric thickness... All the parameters can be showed in a unit cell by TexGen software.

Fig. 2 The geometrical models of a repeating unit cell of composite material a. Two skew-symmetrical layers b. Two symmetrical layers

In order to save time and memory of a computer, two geometrical models used in a research are unit cell with two skew-symmetrical layers and with symmetrical layers (fig. 2a,b). Both models used the preceding geometrical parameters of fabric. The cross section of yarns was assumed eliptical shape. 3.2 Mechanical properties of constituents in a repeating unit cell The matrix encompasing yarns are considered isotropic material while the yarn in a unit cell are attributed orthotropic. Assuming that combination fibers and resin with a good adhesion (fig. 3). Mechanical properties of yarns can be calculated by theory of unidirectional lamina micromechanic (included fraction of void volume). E1 = 14.5 GPa, E2 = E3 = 12.9 GPa G12 = G13 = 6.41GPa , G23 = 6.15 GPa 12 = 13 = 0.17 , 23 = 0.05 T C s1u = 199MPa , s1u = 317MPa
sT = 26MPa , 2u sC = 352MPa 2u

1 3

2
Fig. 3 The geometrical model of a tow

t12u = 19MPa

Workshop Svtlanka 2012

17. - 20. z Rokytnice nad Jizerou

3.3 Finite element solving and post-proccessing After creating geometric models of a unit cell, we imported them to Ansys software and assigned mechanical properties to the yarns and the matrix. The next steps were to mesh the parts in the model and to make boundary conditions. Models were meshed with total 36173 nodes and 40701 elements. The boundary conditions can be described as followings: for two faces that are orthogonal to x-axis, one face is fixed in the x-direction while the other moves translationally in the x-direction. Models were sloved in a linear manner. Outputs from models were: - RFx is the total reaction force at the displaced edge. From this, the average stress in the xdirection in a unit cell was calculated RFx , where wc = 4 mm , tc = 0.583 mm are the width and save = w c .t c thickness of a unit cell. - The average strain in the x-direction in a unit cell were also calculated dw c , where wc is the prescribed displacement e ave = wc s - The Young modulus was determined: E = ave e ave - A failure index was calculated at each point for matrix and tows: s 2 2 FIm = vonMise , FI t = H1s1 + H 2 s2 + H11s1 + H 22 s2 + H 66 t12 + 2H12 s1s2 2 sT mu Where FIt is the Tsai-Wu criterion, the factors H1 , H2, H11, H22, H66, H12 were determined in terms of the strengths of tow.

4 Results and Discussion

We repeated to prescribe the x-displacements (wc) to the unit cell with values: 0.01 mm, 0.02 mm, ...0.1 mm and solved the problem by Ansys. Nextly, we obtained the total reaction force at the displacement edge of the cell, the longitudinal and transverse stresses at a point in cell, the failure indices at each point in matrix and in tows. Finally, we calculated the average strains and stresses in the cell. Figure 4a. shows tension graphs from experiment and from simulation. We can realize that the behaviours of geocomposite from simulation of two geometrical models are nearly similar with the same elastic modulus E = 13 GPa, which is equivalent to experiment. However, if compared to experiment, these behaviours rather overestimate because they were simulated linearly. Figure 4b,c. describe a spectra of distribution of Von-Mise stress on matrix and tension stress on tows. We can see that the maximum stress concentrates at a place on matrix and longitudinal tows, where are the middle of transverse tows. Additionally, when observing two fabric layers, we can see also that tensile load shares equally on them. But in each layer the longitudinal tows are mostly subjected loads. Because the tension strength of carbon fiber are much higher than thoes of matrix, we assume that tension failure of geocomposite depends on fibers completely. Inspection of the failure index of tows, we can point out that the failure index of tows (FIt) reaches to 1 at the middle of longitudinal tows when the average stress in a cell get value of 178 MPa, correspond to the average strain is 0.0138. That means the strength of geocomposite from simultion agree with experiment while the strain at the ultimate stress is much lower than experiment. This is understood that the specimen could slip at grips. However, the failure

Workshop Svtlanka 2012

17. - 20. z Rokytnice nad Jizerou

index of matrix (FIm) becomes too high,which reaches 8, that means the matrix is damaged. Figure 1d. illustrates failure of geocomposite specimen which is agreement to simulation.

a. Fig. 4

b. a. Tension graphs of geocomposite

c. b, c. The spectra of stress distribution on the matrix and fabric

5 Conclusions
Tensile testing to failure of laminate manufactured from woven fabric reinforcements showed that the models proposed offered an acceptable means of predicting mechanical behaviour of such materials. Implementation of these 3D models in conjunction with geometrical parameters of a fabric structure and mechanical properties of components gave appropriate understanding nature of geocomposite material when subjected tension load. Mechanical testing of geocomposites was also performed which showed that prediction of elastic behaviour agreed well with experimental measurements. Applying some failure criteria to matrix and tows in a repeating unit cell allowed us to predict initial damages of geocomposite materials.

6 Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Ministry of Industry and Trade of Czech Republic under the project Innovation Research in Material Engineering of PhD student Grant TUL.

7 References:
1. Davidovits J., Geopolymers: Inorganic Polymeric New Materials. Thermal Analysis, 1991. 37: p. 1633-1656. 2. Davidovits J., Polymers and Geopolymers: Introduction, in Geopolymer Chemistry & Applications. 2008, Geopolymer Institut: Saint-Quentin, France. p. 3-17. 3. Hung T.D., et al., Thermal-Mechanical behavior of silica-based geopolymer-carbon composite, in The 7th International Conference TEXSCI 2010, September 6-8, Czech Republic 4. ASTM C 1275 00, Standard test method for tensile properties of continuous fiberreinforced advanced ceramic composites. 2006, ASTM. 5. EN ISO 13934, Standard test method for tensile properties of textile 6. Autar K.Kaw, Mechanics of material composite.2006, p.205-p.206 7. Jonathan Jcrookston, Prediction of elastic behaviour and initial failure of textile composite, PhD Dissertation, University of Nottingham, 2004. 8. Kent L.Lawrence, ANSYS Workbench Tutorial, Unversity of Texas at Arlington, 2010. 9. http://texgen.sourceforge.net/index.php/User_Guide 10. Stepan V.Lomov, Predictive models for textile composites, in The 7th International Conference TEXSCI 2010, September 6-8, Czech Republic.