Define a New Material

Simulation Composite Analysis requires specific material parameters to predict the fatigue life of composite materials accurately.

Here we will cover creating a new material using Composite Material Manager and defining S-N data to be used in a progressive fatigue analysis. For more information on Composite Material Manager and the S-N data required for a fatigue analysis, you are directed to the Composite Material Manager User's Guide (Unidirectional Fatigue Tab and Woven Fatigue Tab). This tutorial requires the use of AS4-PEEK (a unidirectional material).

The material to be created is AS4_PEEK, with engineering constants defined in the table below and a fiber volume fraction of 0.61 [1].

The strengths of the material are given in below [1].

The longitudinal S-N lamina test data is given below with a load ratio of 0.1 and a frequency of 10 Hz.

S (Pa) Cycles to Failure Frequency (Hz) Load Ratio Angle (°)
1.655E+09 6.056E+01 10 0.1 0.0  
1.197E+09 1.741E+03 10 0.1 0.0  
1.407E+09 2.520E+03 10 0.1 0.0  
1.219E+09 8.930E+03 10 0.1 0.0  
1.134E+09 1.481E+04 10 0.1 0.0  
9.822E+08 1.995E+04 10 0.1 0.0  
8.977E+08 3.886E+05 10 0.1 0.0  
8.977E+08 5.882E+05 10 0.1 0.0  

The transverse S-N lamina test data is given below with a load ration of 0.1 and a frequency of 10 Hz [1].

S (Pa) Cycles to Failure Frequency (Hz) Load Ratio Angle (°)
3.247E+08 9.554E+02 10 0.1 10  
3.026E+08 1.614E+05 10 0.1 10  
2.772E+08 3.348E+05 10 0.1 10  
2.539E+08 1.982E+06 10 0.1 10  
1.170E+08 1.476E+03 10 0.1 30  
1.130E+08 6.203E+04 10 0.1 30  
1.000E+08 7.961E+05 10 0.1 30  
9.153E+07 2.122E+03 10 0.1 45  
8.679E+07 6.485E+04 10 0.1 45  
8.230E+07 4.821E+05 10 0.1 45  
7.943E+07 4.702E+04 10 0.1 60  
7.017E+07 1.143E+05 10 0.1 60  
7.017E+07 1.683E+05 10 0.1 60  
6.793E+07 4.384E+03 10 0.1 90  
6.113E+07 7.232E+04 10 0.1 90  
5.311E+07 1.399E+05 10 0.1 90  
4.951E+07 1.531E+06 10 0.1 90