Geometry modelling and elastic property prediction for short fiber composites

Short fiber composites and other discontinuously fiber reinforced material types such as long fiber reinforced thermoplastics (LFT) or sheet molding compounds (SMC) feature a random, disordered microstructure. The microstructural geometry and topology is typically characterized either in terms of the probability distributions for fiber density, length and orientation or in terms of second or fourth order fiber orientation tensors. The present chapter is devoted to methods for determining the respective statistical information on the microstructure from computed tomography, the stochastic characterization of the microstructure in terms of probability distributions and the fiber orientation tensors derived thereon as well as the subsequent determination of the effective elastic properties f or random short fiber composites using ensemble averaging techniques based on single fiber methods such as Halpin-Tsai, Mori-Tanaka or similar methods, introduced in detail in the previous chapters.