Efficient characterization and modelling of material behaviour of LFT for component simulations

Modeling failure and progressive damage of long fibre reinforced thermoplastics (LFT) presents a challenging task since local inhomogeneities, anisotropic fibre orientations, and strain-rate dependence must be taken into account also on the microscale. We show that for simple geometries, the material behaviour of the composite can be modelled using layered geometrical models. But for more complex geometries, this approach fails since the fibre orientation distribution is inhomogeneous. In this case, multiscale methods allow the accurate and efficient prediction of the material behaviour with the local fibre orientation taken from an injection molding simulation. This material model can be extended to viscoplasticity and integrated into the NTFA-TSO method from Michel & Suquet (2016). In this way, we can obtain an accurate and efficient multiscale method for the realistic modelling of LFT.