[SY-H11] Symposium H-11

[SY-H11] A Hierarchical Multiscale Simulations Approach for Modeling Failure in Polymer Matrix Composites

Xiawa Wu¹, Amin Aramoon¹, Christopher Woodward², ^○Jaafar A. El-Awady¹ (1.Johns Hopkins University, United States of America, 2.Air Force Research Laboratory, United States of America)

Polymer matrix composites (PMCs) are widely used in many automotive, marine, and aerospace applications. Predicting the damage and failure of such systems is of crucial interest for their reliable performance. In this work, a coarse-grained MD model has been developed to characterize the evolution of free volume density (voids) in DGEBA polymers under loading and its subsequently plastic deformation (e.g. hardening and failure). A detailed atomic monomer is coarsened to create the tailored plastic behavior. Cross-linked polymer networks are created under different curing conditions, including temperature, and cross-linker functionality using a dynamic cross-linking algorithm. The effect of chain size, and degree of cross-linking are also investigated. The free volumes are measured as a function of strain by fitting the largest ellipsoids between neighboring chains in the network. From these simulations we develop a direct correlation between the evolution of plastic deformation and the free volume density. The results of these simulations are then upscaled into a finite element simulations to model the damage and failure of PMCs.