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The axial buckling load of single carbon fiber or composite strands is typically predicted using Euler's formula, developed for isotropic materials. This study introduces anisotropy in a mechanical carbon/epoxy Z‐pin model under axial pressure. It examines the influence of compressive modulus, shear modulus, off‐axis angle, and aspect ratio on its buckling behavior. Results show that the axial instability performance of the Z‐pin decreases with lower compression, shear modulus, and aspect ratio while keeping the tensile modulus fixed. Anisotropy decreases buckling load by up to 14% compared with Euler's formula, which only considers tensile modulus. Additionally, the impact of the deflection Angle between the pressure and pin‐axis can be ignored when it is less than 3°. Highlights: Euler formula overestimates composite Z‐pin buckling force under axial pressure.Anisotropy decreases buckling load by up to 14% for carbon/epoxy.Shear modulus is more influential on Z‐pin with a small aspect ratio.For off‐axial compression angles <3°, influence can be ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study concerns the importance of curing kinetic models for the prediction accuracy of the thermal overshoot in the curing process of thick polymeric composite plates. An adaptive activation energy (AAE) method was proposed to determine an accurate curing kinetic model with adaptive activation energy (CK‐AAE). Then the temperature field model of the autoclave curing process was established based on the CK‐AAE equations for predicting the curing thermal overshoot of thick polymer‐matrix composite plates. The prediction accuracy of the curing degree using the CK‐AAE model was improved greatly compared with the common curing kinetic models. And the predicted curing thermal overshoot of thick polymeric composite plates yielded good agreement with the measured results from the autoclave curing experiments. Moreover, it was observed that the curing thermal overshoot was more susceptible to the laminate thickness and less affected by the stacking sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]