16TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPOSITE MATERIALS A NEW THERMODYNAMICAL FATIGUE DAMAGE MODEL FOR SHORT GLASS FIBRE REINFORCED THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES

The present work is a contribution to the phenomenological modelling of fatigue damage in short glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic matrix composites. It is a first part of a continuing work which intends to develop a new damage model into the framework of continuum damage mechanics. The developed model is implemented into the finite element implicit code ABAQUS through user defined material subroutine UMAT. The latter is aimed at predicting the fatigue damage accumulation and the subsequent stiffness reduction in short fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites. The developed model is intended to improve the fatigue life predictions and hence the numerical simulations of structures durability. The developed damage modelling will be used to optimize composite parts in automotive industry. Several simulations have been conducted upon a glass (E) /thermoplastics matrix to emphasize and to understand the effect of material parameters on the damage kinetic and accumulation under cyclic loading