Multi-scale Modeling of Carbon Fabric Reinforced Magnesium (Cf/AZ91D) Laminates for Young’s Modulus Prediction

Abstract:

Multi-scale models for the unidirectional carbon fabric reinforced magnesium laminates were generated according to the characteristics of its realistic microstructure which included the crosswise and lengthwise unit cell model in microscale and structural unit cell model in mesoscale. The macro mechanical property Young’s modulus was calculated from the mesoscale model. The required properties for mesoscale model during simulation was obtained from microscale model. The Young’s modulus for C_f/AZ91D laminates in different layup modes were predicted by use of multi-scale modeling technique and verified by corresponding experiments. It is shown that multi-scale models can be used to predict the Young’s modulus of laminate composites in different layup modes with the same trend but larger than the experimental results a little bit. It is caused by the perfect assumption of no degradation for matrix alloy and fiber during fabrication. The multi-scale modeling technique proposed in this paper is meaningful for the laminate composite design.