PNNL

Abstract

A microstructure based finite element analysis (FEA) model was developed to predict the effective elastic property of cellulose nanowhisker reinforced all-cellulose composite. Analysis was based on microstructure synthesized with assumption on volume fraction, size and orientation distribution of cellulose nanowhiskers. Simulation results demonstrated some interesting discovery: With the increase of aspect ratio, the effective elastic modulus increase. The elastic property anisotropy increases with the narrowing of nanowhisker orientation distribution and increase of aspect ratio. Simulation results from microstructure based FEA agree well with experimental results, comparing with other homogenization methods: upper bound, lower bound and self consistent models. Capturing the anisotropic elastic property, microstructure based FEA demonstrated the capability in guiding microstructure tailor to improve effective properties.