Numerical analyses of thermo-mechanical behaviors of 3-D rectangular braided composite under different temperatures

This paper reports numerical analyses of thermo-mechanical behaviors of three-dimensional (3-D) 4-step rectangular braided basalt fiber/epoxy resin composite materials under different temperatures from 60 to 210°C. In the braided composite, the basalt fiber tows were assumed as thermal insensitive material and the mechanical behaviors of the epoxy resin under different temperatures were tested and introduced in microstructure model of the 3-D braided composite. The thermal stress distributions in fiber tows and resins were numerical calculated based on the microstructure model. The influences of fiber tow orientations and braided architectures on the stress distribution along the axial direction and resins have been discussed to characterize the thermal stress under different temperatures. The residual stress in the braided composite induced from the temperature change is also analyzed for the application of the braided composite to different temperature environments. It is expected that such a numerical investigation could be extended to the design of 3-D braided composite applied to high temperatures.