The Influence of Variability and Defects on the Structural Performance of Discontinuous Composites

Composite materials often feature defects, particularly for composites which feature a complex microstructure, such as aligned discontinuous composites. This study uses an accurate but efficient virtual testing framework, which was used to predict the influence of defects on the structural performance of both hybrid and nonhybrid aligned discontinuous composites. Fibre vacancy defects were found to cause the strongest reduction in material properties, while hybridisation was found to be an effective means to reduce the influence of defects on the structural response.