Mechanical behavior of unidirectional fiber-reinforced polymers under transverse compression: Microscopic mechanisms and modeling

The mechanical behavior of polymer–matrix composites unidirectionally reinforced with carbon or glass fibers subjected to compression perpendicular to the fibers was studied using computational micromechanics. The stress–strain curve was determined by the finite element analysis of a representative volume element of the microstructure idealized as a random dispersion of parallel fibers embedded in the polymeric matrix. The dominant damage...