A Zadhoush - Associate Professor
D Semnani - Associate Professor
H Ghayoor - Graduate Student, Textile Engineering Department, Isfahan University of Technology
M Naeimirad - Graduate Student, Textile Engineering Department, Isfahan University of Technology

Composite materials became an outstanding substitution for traditional materials, as they present a better mechanical performance. Injection molded composites gained a great enthusiasm in different applications, specifically in automotive and aerospace industries as they are practically formable to any profile. Because of their manufacturing method, they form a random orientation of fibers in resin. Orientation of fibers is the most dominant parameter influencing the mechanical properties of composites and needs to be studied to gain a safe prediction for properties of manufactured properties. As a result, it is essential to predict or measure fiber orientation accurately for this purpose. However, in most of the studies random geometry of composites is approximated and simplified. In this study, an objected oriented finite element method has been presented which models composites by the finite element method based on their real orientations. Randomly oriented composite sheets of glass and epoxy have been produced, and based on their scanned images the finite element mesh has been generated. Finally a prediction of Elastic modulus of these specimens has been made and compared with experimental data.

Finite Element; Random short fiber composites; Elastic modulus