Mechanical and Thermal Analysis of Filament Wound Composite Materials

Abstract

Fabrication of composite materials includes many techniques like hand lay-up method, spray lay-up method, pultrusion, filament winding, vacuum bagging, resin transfer molding. Out of the different fabrication techniques, filament winding is one of the technique which is utilized for mass production. It is an automated process which creates both axisymmetric as well as non-axisymmetric parts. The present work deals with the mechanical and thermal analysis of filament wound epoxy and polyester based pipes reinforced with glass and carbon fiber at 0.4 and 0.5 volume fraction of fiber. Pipe is subjected to varying internal pressure to analyze the mechanical behavior and temperature difference of 100 K is applied between inner and outer surface of the pipe to analyze the thermal behavior. Models of the pipes are developed at two different volume fraction of fiber. Finite element analysis (FEA) using micro-mechanical approach have been done to determine stress, strain, total deformation and transverse thermal conductivity of the pipe. The mechanical properties of epoxy and polyester based pipes are compared by changing the volume fraction of fiber and type of reinforcement at varying internal pressure. Transverse thermal conductivity determined by FEA are compared with the values determined by rule of mixture model.