Coupled thermo-chemo-mechanical analysis of composite plate curing process using higher-order 1D theories

This work presents a multifield simulation approach to evaluate the impact of the curing process on the behavior of a composite part. A refined 1D model based on the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF) and finite elements are used to solve the coupled thermo-chemical-mechanical problem. This approach enables simultaneous evaluation of the degree of cure, temperature, and process-induced deformations of the composite part with high accuracy and reduced computational costs. Although a 1D formulation is used, the results are provided considering the 3D temperature distributions, degree of cure, and deformations. Cases of plates placed on the tool and subjected to convection are studied. Furthermore, nonhomogeneous distributions of temperature are considered. The influence of the curing process on plate warpage is analyzed. The results show that the use of a refined kinematic model improves the prediction of process-induced deformations in the structure, due to its ability to predict three-dimensional thermochemical effects.