Optimal Design and Curing Deformation Verification of Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Resin Multi‐Coupled Laminates With Extension‐Shearing Coupling Effect

ABSTRACT To address the issues of complex ply angles and unclear curing deformation mechanisms in carbon fiber/epoxy resin (CF/EP) multi‐coupled laminates, this study carried out optimal design and curing deformation verification. By introducing geometric factors of composites and based on hygrothermal stability conditions, the necessary and sufficient conditions for achieving hygrothermal stability in such multi‐coupled laminates were derived. A criterion for measuring curing deformation was proposed. Using a genetic algorithm (GA), asymmetric multi‐coupled laminates with extension‐shearing coupling were optimized, resulting in a ply scheme based on common engineering angles (0°, ±45°, 90°). Corresponding composite laminates were fabricated via compression molding, and their curing deformation was measured by laser scanning. Experimental and simulation results show that the curing warpage of the multi‐coupled laminates can be controlled within 0.5% of the side length, and the simulation error of curing deformation can be kept within 20%.