The residual thermal stresses due to cool-down of post cure for the symmetric cross-ply TCM composite material

This paper attempts to analyze the residual stress resulting from the effect of temperature during the cooling process of the symmetric cross-ply composite laminate in post cure. In the analysis, the mechanical properties of the composite are determined in terms of the behavior of the power law and TCM characteristic in the thermo-viscoelastic response. Meanwhile, the coefficient of thermal expansion is assumed to be temperature-dependent and incorporated in this model. The Method of Calculus of Variation is then applied to derive the governing equations of the optimal temperature path which ensures the minimum residual thermal stress. In the numerical analysis, the successive iteration method is applied for these integro-differential equations.