Microstructure Analysis and Multi-Unit Cell Model of Three Dimensionally Four-Directional Braided Composites

In this paper, a new multi-unit cell model of three dimensionally braided composites is presented on the basis of the microstructure analysis of 3D braided preforms produced by four-step 1 x 1 method. According to a new unit cell partition scheme, the multi-unit cell model possesses five kinds of unit cells, namely interior, exterior surface, interior surface, exterior corner and interior corner unit cells. Each type of the representative volume cell has unique microstructure and volume fraction in braided composites. On the basis of these five unit cell models, the structural geometry parameters of the preforms are analyzed and the relationship between the structural parameters and the braiding parameters in different regions are derived in detail, such as the braiding angles, fiber volume fraction, yarn packing factor, braiding pitch and so on. Finally, by using the multi-unit cell model, the main structural parameters of braided composites specimens are calculated to validate the effectiveness of the model. The results are in good agreement with the available experimental data. In addition, the effect of braiding angle on the squeezing condition of braiding yarn is analyzed. The variations of the volume proportion of five unit cells to the whole specimen with rows and columns are discussed, respectively. The presented multi-unit cell model can be adopted to design 3D braided composites and predict their mechanical properties.