Particle Simulation for Predicting Effective Properties of Short Fiber Reinforced Composites

Abstract

We present a method for evaluating elastic properties of a composite material produced by molding a resin filled with short elastic fibers. A flow of the filled resin is simulated numerically using a mesh-free method. After that, assuming that spatial distribution and orientation of fibers are not significantly changed during polymerization, effective elastic moduli of the composite material are evaluated. The developed micro-mechanical mathematical modelling of effective moduli is aimed to molding process optimization which results in product quality improvement.