An integrated modeling of the curing process and transverse tensile damage of unidirectional CFRP composites

In this work, an integrated numerical approach for predicting the damage mechanism of unidirectional CFRP composites at the micro-scale level has been developed using a multi-scale modeling strategy, where the curing residual stresses induced in autoclave curing process is taken into account. This research frames of the curing residual stresses development and the transverse tensile damage development through finite element computation. The curing residual stresses of CFRP composites induced in the curing process are characterized by coupling thermal-chemical analysis at macro-scale level and thermal–mechanical at micro-scale level. Then, the obtained residual stresses are combined with the micro-scale representative volume element (RVE) to compute the transverse tensile damage of CFRP composites. The predicted homogenized stress–strain curve at micro-scale fits the experimental results well. The microscopic damage distribution caused by the introduction of curing residual stresses reveals the intrinsic mechanisms of CFRP composites from fabrication to service. In addition, the influence of curing process on the strength performance of CFRP composites are further studied using the proposed approach.