Prediction of processing-induced distortion of curved flanged composite laminates

It is well known that angles in composite parts contract as they are cooled down from the curing temperature, this is often referred to as spring-in. It is caused mainly by the significantly different thermal contractions and cure shrinkage's experienced between the fibre direction and the through-thickness direction during the manufacturing process. A number of works have reported on the spring-in of straight angle composite parts. However, little has been done to investigate the distortion of curved flanged composite parts, which will distort differently owing to the introduction of the additional curvature, thus constraint.

In the present work, the distortion of the circularly curved flanged laminates is studied numerically. The finite element method is used to predict the processing-induced distortion of the part with two different approaches. In the first approach, the shear angles of the composite plies are predicted by a draping analysis. The effect of the fibre shearing on the mechanical properties of the laminates is considered in the model used to predict the distortion. The second simplified approach assumes that the in-plane properties of the laminates are isotropic. The results obtained by these two approaches are compared with those obtained experimentally.