Micro-Scale Process Modeling and Evaluation of Curing-Induced Residual Stresses in Fiber-Reinforced Polymers Using Higher-Order FE Models

Abstract

This manuscript presents the analysis of the curing process of thermoset polymers to predict the cure-induced residual stresses at the micro-scale level. A phenomenological cure kinetics model is used to describe the polymerization process, while an instantaneous linear-elastic constitutive law is used to predict residual stress. The computational model leverages higher-order structural theories derived from the Carrera Unified Formulation. A ten-fiber randomly packed repeating unit cell is virtually cured using the proposed higher-order method. The predicted stress state is shown to agree with reference results based on 3D finite element analysis while achieving a multi-fold reduction in the computational effort.