Phase Field Modelling of Thermo-Mechanical Crack Growth in Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composites

Carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRCs) are extensively used in aerospace, automobile, marine, sports, electronics and electrical industries due to their high strength-to-weight ratio and excellent electrical, thermal, and corrosion resistance properties. These composites are subjected to combined mechanical and thermal loading conditions during operation due to external environmental factors and fail due to fracture. The Carbon fiber reinforced composite (CFRC) structure fails differently under a thermo-mechanical loading environment than under pure mechanical loading conditions because the thermal gradient with mechanical loading affects the crack nucleation and propagation in the CFRC structures. Therefore, understanding the crack growth behaviour of these CFRCs under a thermo-mechanical loading environment is crucial for obtaining information regarding fracture resistance enhancement, thereby improving the overall performance of these structures. The present work uses the phase field method to study the thermo-mechanical fracture behaviour of a CFRC structure. The combined effect of the thermo-mechanical loading environment on the crack path (crack growth through fiber, matrix, and their interface) and the mechanical response of the CFRC structure is investigated for heating and cooling conditions, along with the mechanical load. For the thermo-mechanical crack growth study in CFRP composite structure, an in-house MATLAB code is written in the finite element framework based on the well-proven, computationally efficient hybrid phase field model (PFM). The implemented thermo-mechanical phase field model agrees with the reference results in the literature. The crack growth trajectories, temperature field plots and force-displacement response plots are presented to investigate the thermo-mechanical crack growth behaviour of the CFRC structures.