Influence of Fiber Distribution on the Responses of Fiber Tows for Textile Composites

Abstract

This research is focused on homogenized responses of different representative unit cells in fiber tows of textile composites. The fiber in a representative unit cell of the fiber tow locally is simulated as a unidirectional transversely isotropic fiber. Each representative unit cell has the same fiber volume fraction of fibers but different microstructural topology. The simulation results show that, under uniaxial homogenized compression in the fiber direction and under uniaxial homogenized compression in the transverse direction, microstructure topology has little influence on the maximum failure strength and homogenized tangential stiffness. Under in-plane shear homogenized deformation, microstructure topology has influence on the maximum failure strength but has little influence on homogenized tangential stiffness.