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Random discontinuous carbon fiber preforms: Experimental permeability characterization and local modeling
Author(s) -
Endruweit A.,
Harper L.T.,
Turner T.A.,
Warrior N.A.,
Long A.C.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
polymer composites
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.577
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1548-0569
pISSN - 0272-8397
DOI - 10.1002/pc.20851
Subject(s) - materials science , bundle , composite material , fiber bundle , protein filament , homogenization (climate) , permeability (electromagnetism) , volume fraction , porosity , sizing , crimp , void (composites) , biodiversity , ecology , art , visual arts , genetics , membrane , biology
Injection experiments indicate that for random discontinuous carbon fiber preforms, increasingly uneven flow fronts develop with increasing fiber bundle length and filament count. While at high propensity for fiber bundle splitting, the preform permeability increases continuously with increasing fiber length, no trend can be identified at low propensity. No clear influence of the virgin bundle filament count on the preform permeability was observed. Types of sizing used on the fibers and bundle cross‐sectional shapes may vary and affect the intrinsic filamentization behavior, thus dominating the preform permeability. In a model for local preform permeability, interbundle voids, distributed randomly across the preform thickness, are approximated via a regular void structure. Simulated filling patterns are qualitatively similar to those observed experimentally, showing more pronounced features than those derived from a model based on local through‐thickness homogenization of the filament distribution. A model based on an alternating arrangement of fiber bundles and voids allows prediction of global preform permeability values from series of injection simulations, showing quantitatively better agreement with corresponding experimental results than the homogenization model. For global permeability, agreement between simulated and experimental mean values improves with increasing fiber volume fraction, whereas calculated coefficients of variation show no strong dependence on the fiber volume fraction. POLYM. COMPOS., 2010. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers