Mesoscopic Tensile Deformation of Steel Cord with Diverse Layered Nonuniformity Based on Microcomputed Tomography Optimizing Simulation Model

Abstract

The finite-element analysis plays a crucial role in enhancing the quality and predicting the safety of steel cord. The conventional parametric model for finite-element analysis often overlooks the inhomogeneity of steel cord, making it difficult to achieve precise simulation. This article utilizes microcomputed tomography to track the mesoscopic deformation of real steel cord during stretching, reconstructing 3D digital images and quantitatively analyzing the corresponding rule for an optimized finite-element modeling method. In comparison to the parametric model's experimental deviation of 28.37% in strain, the actual structural tensile model aligns with the tensile test with a deviation of only 2.88%, indicating high processing quality. In addition, when simulating the impact of layered nonuniformity on the fracture strain of cords, it is observed that a small degree of nonuniformity leads to an increase in compression between the cord filaments and subsequently enhances the fracture strain. This study provides a practical and dependable quantitative analysis on a mesoscopic scale to optimize the design and production of cords.