TITLE:
Modeling Fiber Composites during the Cure Process for Piezoelectric Actuation
AUTHORS:
Darryl V. Murray, Oliver J. Myers
KEYWORDS:
Composite; Piezoelectric; Morphing; Modeling
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Mechanics,
Vol.3 No.1,
February
7,
2013
ABSTRACT: Analytical, numerical, and experimental modeling methods are
presented to predict deformation after the cure process of thin unsymmetric
laminates for piezoelectric actuation. During fabrication, laminates deform to
several post-cure room temperature shapes. Thin cross-ply laminates deform to a
circular cylindrical post-cure shape while thicker laminates deform to a saddle
shape. Post-cure shapes are dependent on ply orientation, thickness, and
material properties. Because, CLT alone does not always predict the correct
post-cure room temperature shape of the thin composite laminates, an extension
of CLT with the Rayleigh-Ritz technique and potential energies are used to better
predict these shapes. Finite element models are used to predict the post-cure
room temperature shapes. Thin composite laminates are modeled coupling heat
transfer and structural mechanics, which are necessary for modeling the cure
process. Modeling the fabrication process captured important data such as
residual stresses from the cure process, room temperature shapes, and
bi-stability of the composite laminates. To validate these analytical and
numerical results, experiments were con- ducted using macro-fiber
composite (MFC) patches for morphing the laminates. The experimental
piezoelectric morph- ing results relate well to analytical and numerical
results.