Experimental and numerical analysis of the defects induced by the thermoforming process on woven textile thermoplastic composites

In the present work, a parallel numerical and experimental analysis of a critical type of defect is conducted, the shear deformation which is caused by the thermoforming process of thermoplastic-based composites reinforced with glass fiber textile. The numerical analysis is conducted a priori using a commercial finite element software, developed for this specific process. In parallel, an experimental thermoforming test was conducted using the exact same parameters used for simulating the process and, consecutively, measurements of the component characteristics such as the fiber relative deformation of the textile are taken. Aiming to validate the simulation and to obtain crucial information about this phenomenon, a comparison between the finite element process simulation and the measurements output is conducted revealing a satisfying agreement between them, leading also to useful conclusions about the validity of the simulation method as well as about the detection and measurement of the shear textile deformation using optical systems.