numerical simulation of a hybrid nanocomposite containing caco3 and short glass fibers subjected to tensile loading

The tensile properties of multiscale, hybrid, thermoplastic-based nanocomposites reinforced with nano-caco3 particles and micro–short glass fibers (sgf) were predicted by a two-step, three-dimensionalmodel using ansys finite element (fe) software. cylindrical and cuboid rep-resentative volume elements were generated to obtain the effective behavior of the multiscale hybrid composites. in the first step, the mechanical performance of co-polypropylene/caco3 nanocomposite was analyzed. the thickness of the interphase layer around the nanoparticles was estimated by using differential scanning calorimetry data. in the second step, the nanocom-posite (co-polypropylene/caco3) was considered as an effective matrix, and then the effect of micro-sgf inclusion on the corresponding effective matrix was evaluated. the fe and experi-mental stress-strain curves of multiscale, hybrid composites were compared at different weight fractions of the nanoparticle. the proposed two-step method can easily predict the tensile prop-erties of multiscale, hybrid, thermoplastic-based nanocomposites.