Mechanics of Fiber-Reinforced Porous Polymer Composites

Abstract

Fiber reinforcement has been found in natural porous structures, such as Palmetto Wood. These reinforcements appear to improve the mechanical behavior of these porous structures to enhance strength and energy absorbing capability. Similar use of fiber reinforcement has yet to be pursued in synthetic porous materials to form composites. Using multi-scale DIC, we previously investigated the macroscale and microscale mechanisms responsible for the mechanical behavior of Palmetto wood, which we used to formulate new mechanical models of the effects of fiber reinforcement on the evolution of damage and plastic strain. We have now formulated synthetic fiber-reinforced porous materials with fiber reinforcement to determine if these effects translate under quasi-static flexure using multi-scale DIC and the new mechanical models.