Manufacturing of unidirectional glass-fiber-reinforced composites via frontal polymerization: A numerical study

S. Vyas, E. Goli, X. Zhang, P. H. Geubelle

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Frontal polymerization (FP) is explored as a faster and energy-efficient manufacturing method for dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) matrix, E-glass-fiber-reinforced composites through a series of numerical simulations based on a homogenized reaction-diffusion model. The simulations are carried out over a range of values of fiber volume fraction using (i) a transient, nonlinear, multi-physics finite element solver, and (ii) a semi-analytic steady-state solver. We observe that the front velocity and temperature decrease with an increase in the fiber volume fraction until a critical point is reached, beyond which FP is no longer observed as the front is quenched. To highlight the effect of the material properties of the reinforcing phase, the dependencies of the front velocity, width and maximum temperature on the fiber volume fraction obtained for glass/DCPD composites are compared to those associated with carbon/DCPD composites.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number107832
JournalComposites Science and Technology
Volume184
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 10 2019

Keywords

  • Carbon-fiber-reinforced composites
  • Dicyclopentadiene
  • Finite element analysis
  • Frontal polymerization
  • Glass-fiber-reinforced composites
  • Thermo-chemical model

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ceramics and Composites
  • General Engineering

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