Effect of geometrical configurations of fiber on the effective properties of unidirectional carbon-fiber/epoxy composite

Knowing the effective of both mechanical and thermal properties of composite materials allows researchers to improve their behavior and increasing its reliability. In this study, a simplified micromechanical approach is used to modelling and analysis the unidirectional carbon-fiber/epoxy composite performances. The principle objective of this work is to evaluate the effect of the fiber geometrical configurations on the effective mechanical properties and the thermal expansion’s coefficients considering three different geometrical configuration of the fiber. Hence, the unidirectional composite with ellipsoidal fiber is stiffer than others with cylindrical or parallelepipedal fibers. Moreover, the considered configuration wherein the fiber has an ellipsoidal shape leads to lower effective coefficients of thermal expansion corresponding to more cohesion between particles.