Flexural properties of electrothermal deicing composite laminates: Experimental and numerical study

The electrothermal deicing composites usually experience flexural deformations, but fewer studies have been done on their flexural properties. In this study, specimens were manufactured by using the autoclave curing and spray metal multi-layer deposition technology. Three-point bending tests were conducted. A progressive damage model using user-defined material subroutine and cohesive elements was proposed to understand the damage evolution. A steady-state heat transfer model was established to obtain the temperature field. It is shown that the damage distributions obtained from the numerical modeling correlate well with experimental observations.