Modeling elastic properties of unidirectional composite materials using Ansys Material Designer
Saiaf Bin Rayhan, Md Mazedur Rahman
Abstract
Advanced reinforced composites are leading materials used in high tech industries (automotive, aerospace, naval, etc.) in recent years. Before manufacturing any structure made by composite materials, it is crucial to analyze their elastic properties by analytical means or computational homogenization to reduce the overall manufacturing cost and time for faster production. In this current research paper, Ansys Material Designer is adopted to estimate the elastic properties of unidirectional composite materials and compare them with available analytical, finite element and experimental results. In general, it yields results with excellent accuracy compared to experimental data for all RVE shapes (square, diamond and hexagonal). However, accuracy loss is found for in-plane shear modulus (G 12 ) when the fiber volume fraction is more than 0.6.