Tool for Generation of MAC/GMC Representative Unit Cell for CMC/PMC Analysis

About this technology

Overview

This is a Graphics user interface (GUI) based tool that generates a number of different user-defined repeating unit cells (RUCs) interactively that can be used in conjunction with the composite micromechanics based analysis tool MAC GMC and HF GMC.In addition, the code has provisions for generation of a MAC/GMC-compatible input text file that can be merged with any MAC/GMC input file tailored to analyze composite materials. Although the primary intention was to address the three different constituents and phases that are usually present in CMCsnamely, fibers, matrix, and interphaseit can be easily modified to address two-phase polymer matrix composite (PMC) materials where an interphase is absent. Currently, the tool capability includes generation of RUCs for square packing, hexagonal packing, and random fiber packing as well as RUCs based on actual composite micrographs. All these options have the fibers modeled as having a circular cross-sectional area. In addition, a simplified version of RUC is provided where the fibers are treated as having a square cross section and are distributed randomly.