European Journal of Science and Technology, cilt.24, ss.508-514, 2021 (Hakemli Dergi)
In this study, a new algorithm was developed for the random distribution of the nanomaterials in the polymer matrix to model realistic
behavior of polymer nanocomposites. The study focused on the development of this algorithm rather than the modeling of
nanocomposites as a finite element method. The multi-scale method with a representative volume element (RVE) is generally used for
numerical modeling of nanomaterials and polymer nanocomposites. The researchers investigate the effect of the reinforcement
material and the reinforcement mechanism has not been fully explained both numerically and experimentally. The success of
numerical studies is also very important to specify the effect of reinforcement mechanism in experimental studies. For this reason, an
algorithm was developed to model the realistic distribution of nanomaterials in the polymer matrix and adapted to numerical studies.
The algorithm provided that materials of desired geometric dimensions were randomly positioned within a control volume and did not
intersect with each other and the control volume. The algorithm was developed using the Python programming language and the
positions of the nanomaterials were transferred to the ABAQUS finite element program using scripting language. Graphene was used
as a nanomaterial and epoxy was used as a polymer matrix. Randomly distributed RVE models gave more successful results than
single element RVE models. It shows a good agreement with experimental results.