Evolution of fibre waviness during the forming of aligned fibre/thermoplastic composites

A model for the in-plane deflections of a system of discrete axially loaded fibres in a viscous matrix has been developed to study the evolution of fibre waviness during forming of aligned thermoplastic composites. A simplified numerical solution approach to the theoretical model is implemented, allowing for the analysis of a large number of fibres with a reasonable computational effort. The results of the model show the maximum fibre...