Experimental and multi-scale numerical evaluations for effective mechanical properties of 2-D Cf/Mg composites

2-D Cf/Mg composites consisting of AZ91D magnesium alloy and carbon non-woven fabrics are prepared by using the LSEVI process and their mechanical properties are experimentally tested. The experimental results show that the 2-D Cf/Mg composites have the better mechanical properties: elastic modulus of 71.0 GPa and ultimate tensile strength of 366.0 MPa, compared to AZ91D magnesium alloy matrix with the elastic modulus of 45.0 GPa and ultimate tensile strength of 250.0 MPa. The effective elastic properties of the 2-D Cf/Mg composites are numerically predicted by using a multi-scale homogenization method: the RVE based FE homogenization method at the macro-scale coupling the D-I mean-field homogenization model at the micro-scale. The agreement between the results of the experimental tests and the multi-scale homogenization method illustrates the validation of the multi-scale homogenization method to evaluate the effective mechanical properties of the 2-D Cf/Mg composites. For improving the computational efficiency, at the macro-scale the laminated composites theory is coupled with the RVE based FE homogenization method to predict the effective mechanical properties of the 2-D Cf/Mg composites.