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This study investigates the effect of thermal modification on the flexural properties, transverse fracture energy, and hardness of western hemlock, a material which is finding increasing applications in construction. Flexure tests on specimens featuring longitudinal and transverse grains showed that thermal modification at 167C slightly improves the flexural modulus and strength and leads to less statistical variability compared to unmodified samples. On the other hand, the fracture and Janka hardness tests revealed a more pronounced brittleness of the thermally modified samples. In fact, the total mode I fracture energy of modified Single Edge Notch Bending (SENB) samples was about 47% lower for radial-longitudinal systems and 60% lower for tangential-longitudinal systems. Similarly, the average Janka hardness in the tangential, radial, and transverse planes was 8.5%, 3.9%, and 9.4% lower in the modified specimens, respectively. The results presented in this work show that thermal modification can have a significant effect on the fracturing behavior of western hemlock and its energy dissipation capabilities. For design, this must be taken into serious consideration as these properties significantly influence the damage tolerance of this wood in the presence of stress concentrations such as e.g., those induced in bolted joints and cut outs. Fracture energy and hardness are also strongly correlated to ballistic performance., Comment: 27 pages, 25 figures

In this study, we experimentally and numerically investigate the evolution of the tensile material properties of Discontinuous Fiber Composites (DFCs) with an increasing average number of platelets through the thickness for two different platelet widths. The results show that both the number of platelets and the platelet width have significant effects on the tensile modulus and strength. We find that not only the average mechanical properties but also their coefficients of variation change according to the different DFC mesostructures. To understand the relationship between material morphology at the mesoscale and corresponding material properties, we developed a random platelet mesostructure generation algorithm combined with explicit finite element models. Leveraging the computational tools, we find that moduli and strength increase with increasing average number of platelets through the thickness. The increasing trend continues until reaching an asymptotic limit at about 45 layers through the thickness for the narrow platelets and 27 layers for the square platelets. In the study, we address the importance of having accurate simulations of the mesostructure to match not only the average modulus and strength but also their associated coefficients of variation. We show that it is possible to accurately predict the tensile material properties of DFCs, including their B-basis design values. This is a quintessential condition for the adoption of DFCs in structural applications.

Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) technology provides a great ability to efficiently produce large carbon fiber reinforced composite structures with complex surfaces. AFP has a wide range of tow placement angles, and the users can design layup angles so that they can tailor the performance of the structure. However, despite the design freedom, the industry generally adopts a layering of 0 deg, 90 deg, and plus-minus 45 deg ply-drop angles. Here, we demonstrate the optimization of ply-drop angles of non-conventional composites. Specifically, we use classical laminate theory and Bayesian optimization to achieve better layup angles in terms of stiffness, Tsai-Wu failure criteria, and manufacturing time. Our approach shows its effectiveness in designing carbon fiber composite structures using unconventional angles in terms of both mechanical properties and production efficiency. Our method has the potential to be used for more complex scenarios, such as the production of curved surfaces and the utilization of finite element analysis.