Composites Science and Technology

Ultra-thin composites membrane for deployable structures: XCT driven characterization

and FE Modeling of folding structure
--Manuscript Draft--

Manuscript Number: CSTE-D-23-00591

Article Type: Full Length Article

Section/Category: Mechanics, modelling and analysis

Keywords: Deployable structures; virtual characterization; X-ray computed tomography (XCT);

FE modeling; foldable composites

Corresponding Author: Kamran Khan

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

First Author: Israr Ud Din

Order of Authors: Israr Ud Din

Adnan Ahmed

Farah Tarek

Wesley Cantwell

Kamran Khan

Manuscript Region of Origin: Middle East

Abstract: Light-weight, ultra-thin, high performance, origami-inspired deployable folding

structures can be fabricated by simulating various designs and material combinations.
In this study, an XCT-driven finite element (FE) model of a building block in a typical
full-scale origami structure consisting of stiff and fold regions was developed. Following
our previous work, the stiff region of the fold sample was fabricated using a hot
compression molding technique whereas hand layup was employed for the fold region.
XCT-driven FE-based homogenization was carried out on an RVE of real
microstructure of both ultra-thin composite laminates. The FE-homogenization results
were found to be in good agreement with the experimentally measured effective
properties of both the stiff and fold regions, with a maximum error of ~10%. Folding
tests were conducted on a simple fold and the force vs. displacement and moment vs.
curvature curves were plotted. The applicability of XCT-driven FE modeling to simulate
foldable structures were demonstrated using two different solution techniques, i.e.,
post-buckling and bending analysis in the FE-software ABAQUS®. A uniform and
symmetric fold curvature, along with the corresponding force vs. displacement
response were predicted using XCT-driven FE techniques and found to be in good
agreement with data from the experimental tests. The peak force predicted by the FE
model showed an error of ~5.2% compared to the experimental fold test.

Suggested Reviewers: iwona jasiuk

ijasiuk@illinois.edu
expert in composite and finite element analysis

Jinkyu Yang
jkyang@aa.washington.edu
expert in deployable composites

rizwan choudhry
R.Choudhry@derby.ac.uk
Expert in microCT, manufacturing and FE modeling

mahmoodul haq
haqmahmo@engr.msu.edu
expert in composite manufacturing and testing

Yu (Roger) Dong
Y.Dong@curtin.edu.au

Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation
 Expert in composites

Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation
Cover Letter

March 18, 2023

The Editor,
Composite Science and Technology

Subject: An article for publication in Composite Science and Technology

Dear Sir,

Please find enclosed the manuscript titled, “Ultra-thin composites membrane for
deployable structures: XCT driven characterization and FE Modeling of folding
structure” by Israr Ud Din, Adnan Ahmed, Farah Tarek, Wesley Cantwell, and Kamran
A. Khan, for consideration and possible publication in Composites Science and
Technology.

High performance, lightweight, ultra-thin membrane foldable composite structures are

being designed from a wide variety of composite materials following different
manufacturing techniques. Currently, such structures are developed entirely through
experimental testing, which is challenging and time-consuming. Prior to full-scale
prototype development, a full-scale FE analysis approach has to be developed in order to
optimize the folding operation with minimal experimental effort. Therefore, we have
proposed a micro-CT driven FE modeling approach for simulating origami-inspired
foldable structures. The constituents’ properties of a typical fold sample i.e., fold region
and stiff region were characterized using XCT-driven FE models. With the homogenized
properties derived from a real microstructure of composite materials, we can predict the
fold test behavior (moment-curvature) in good agreement with the tests. We believe that
this work is a novel contribution to the scientific community.

We also believe that the paper falls well within the scope of the journal. The authors
declare that this is an original research article, has not been published elsewhere
previously nor being considered for publication elsewhere currently in English or in any
other language. On acceptance, the authors will adhere to the journal’s copyrights
regulations and will make required formatting changes as per the journal’s guidelines.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need additional information.

Sincerely,
K.A. Khan
Associate Professor
Department of Aerospace Engineering
Khalifa University of Science and Technology
PO Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, UAE
T +971 (0)2 3123562
F +971 (0)2 312 3888
kamran.khan@ku.ac.ae; kamran026@yahoo.com
Graphical Abstract
Manuscript File Click here to view linked References

Ultra-thin composites membrane for deployable structures: XCT driven characterization

and FE Modeling of folding structure
Israr Ud Din, Adnan Ahmed, Farah Tarek, Wesley Cantwell, Kamran A. Khan*
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, PO Box 127788,
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
*
Corresponding author: kamran.khan@ku.ac.ae

Abstract
Light-weight, ultra-thin, high performance, origami-inspired deployable folding structures can be

fabricated by simulating various designs and material combinations. In this study, an XCT-driven

finite element (FE) model of a building block in a typical full-scale origami structure consisting of

stiff and fold regions was developed. Following our previous work, the stiff region of the fold

sample was fabricated using a hot compression molding technique whereas hand layup was

employed for the fold region. XCT-driven FE based homogenization was carried out on an RVE

of real microstructure of both ultra-thin composite laminates. The FE homogenization results were

found to be in good agreement with the experimentally-measured effective properties of both the

stiff and fold regions, with a maximum error of ~10%. Folding tests were conducted on a simple

fold and the force vs. displacement and moment vs. curvature curves were plotted. The

applicability of XCT-driven FE modeling to simulate foldable structures were demonstrated using

two different solution techniques, i.e., post-buckling and bending analysis available in the FE

software ABAQUS®. A uniform and symmetric fold curvature, along with the corresponding force

vs. displacement response were predicted using XCT-driven FE techniques and found to be in

good agreement with data from the experimental tests. The peak force predicted by the FE model

showed an error of ~5.2% compared to the experimental fold test.

Keywords: Deployable structures, virtual characterization, X-ray computed tomography (XCT), FE modeling,

foldable composites.

1
1 Introduction

Traditionally, deployable structures have been made with stiff metallic structural members

interconnected by mechanical joints that could be folded or unfolded for use in a wide range of

applications, including space missions, civil structures, robotics, and medicine, etc. [1–4].

Conventional material systems are gradually being replaced by more advanced light-weight and

jointless material combinations based on fiber reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) with fewer

components, thus creating compact designs [5–7]. Moreover, such foldable structures can

withstand large deformations and require less energy for self-deployment [8]. The favorable

properties of FRPCs can be exploited by potentially using ultra-thin laminates made up of a

combination of one to six layers of thin-woven composites, resulting from a variety of innovative

combinations of material systems that provide elastic and stiff responses in deployable space

structures [8,9]. It is a challenging and time-consuming task to conduct mechanical

characterization and determination of all the elastic properties in order to optimize the design and

perform full-scale structural level simulations of such ultra-thin membrane-like foldable structures

with diverse anisotropic material systems.

Foldable structures exhibiting seemingly conflicting characteristics of a flexible and a stiff

response are possible with origami-inspired structures [6]. Deleo et al. [6] and Al-Mansoori et al.

[8] have demonstrated that origami-inspired carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) foldable

composites are more efficient than metals, due to their high strength, stiffness, and light weight.

They are also capable of achieving a high packaging efficiency. In our previous work, Al-Mansoori

et al. [8] used a dry rectangular carbon fabric as a substrate and architecturally bonded rectangular

CFRP prepreg laminates by hot compression molding process to divide the fabric into stiff and un-

stiff regions. The gaps formed between the stiff regions are thus referred as the bending or fold

2
regions. The gap size and its material properties play an important role in achieving appropriate

folding/unfolding operation. It was discussed that elastic bending can be achieved if resin flow

from the prepregs into the fold region could be suppressed. Rubber-based polymers, with hyper-

elastic behavior, were used in the fold region to facilitate the elastic folding operations and to

prevent infusion of the prepreg resin into the fold region during the compression molding process

[8].

Finite element (FE) analyses and subsequent design optimization studies of the origami-inspired

foldable structures (for instance, structures fabricated and tested in [6,8]), require anisotropic

elastic properties in order to model both the stiff and fold regions. Virtual characterization

techniques, based on homogenization theories, have attracted significant interest when analyzing

the heterogeneous composite material systems [10–13]. For a reliable virtual characterization, an

accurate and realistic representative volume element (RVE) is needed to capture microstructural

variations in the material constituents with a high degree of accuracy [13]. In case of FRPCs based

on a textile woven reinforcement, an accurate description of the RVE at the meso-level requires

detailed information regarding the fibers in the tows and the matrix, in addition to the local

orientations of the fibers themselves [14–16].

Geometric modeling of the RVE for textile composites has been conventionally carried out using

idealized modeling approaches with a uniform cross-section of yarns. WiseTex and TexGen have

been used for the creation of idealized RVE [14,17–19]. Isart et al. [16] proposed an analytical

strategy for the geometric modeling of the RVE for a 3D textile composite using X-ray micro

computed tomography (XCT) images of the cross-sections of the fiber yarns at four different

locations. The predicted elastic properties were found to be in good agreement with the

experimental results. Modern XCT equipment is capable of analyzing the microstructures of

3
FRPCs [12], thus allowing the reconstruction of the real RVE geometry from high resolution 3D

images, without destroying the observed sample [20]. Therefore, virtual characterization approach

using XCT and its direct conversion into a voxel-based geometry shows great potential for

describing real geometric variability (yarn morphology, local orientation of yarn and fiber, yarn

volume fraction) and the subsequent prediction of the anisotropic material properties [13,15,21].

In this work, we employed XCT to virtually characterize the elastic properties of composite

materials used to manufacture an origami-inspired deployable structure. We have manufactured

simple origami fold samples, consisting of a stiff hybrid laminated region and elastomeric-filled

laminate fold region. A hot compression molding process was used for manufacturing the samples

required for XCT as well as those for the mechanical folding tests. The XCT image analyses and

subsequent segmentation were conducted using the VoxTex® software package. Effective

mechanical properties were then realized from the voxel-based models of real laminates and

validated using experimental data. The homogenized properties obtained were then used in the FE

model to simulate the typical fold behavior of an origami structure. ABAQUS® was used for the

FE modeling of the folding structure. The numerical simulations were validated with the

experimental results as well as data from the literature. For the first time, we have demonstrated

that the XCT-driven micromodel can be used to undertake an FE simulation of an ultra-thin,

foldable origami-inspired composite structure.

2 Materials
A 2D unbalanced plain weave E-glass fabric with an overall areal weight 202 g/m2 (trade name

RE210DTM) supplied by Gurit®, UK, was used as the substrate material in the stiff region of the

laminates investigated here. The areal weights in warp and weft directions in this unbalanced

preform were 81.7 g/m2 and 123.2 g/m2, respectively. A 2×2 balanced twill weave glass prepreg

4
(Hexply® M26) was placed on top of the dry glass fabric. The areal weight of the glass prepreg

was 300 g/m2 and fiber volume fraction was 0.5. More details of the materials can be found in

Refs. [22,23]. The fold region in the samples consisted of a dry fabric filled with a two-component

(100A:10B) silicone-based elastomer (Smooth-SilTM 936). The properties of the E-glass fiber for

both the dry preform and the prepreg in addition to those for the epoxy matrix and the elastomer

are given in Table 1.

Table 1: Material properties of the fiber, matrix, and elastomer used in the stiff hybrid region and the fold region

(source: manufacturer data-sheets).

Properties E-glass fiber Epoxy resin Elastomer

(Prepreg) (Smooth-SilTM 936)

Tensile modulus, 𝑬∗𝒊 (𝑮𝑷𝒂) 72.45 3.50 0.80×10-3

Poisson’s ratio, 𝝂𝒊 0.22 0.35 0.49

Tensile strength, 𝑿𝒊𝑻 (𝑴𝑷𝒂) 2000 80 3.79

Density (𝒈⁄𝒄𝒎𝟑 ) 2.6 1.29 1.18

Fiber linear density (𝒕𝒆𝒙) 136 - -

Filament diameter (𝝁𝒎) 16 - -

*
The subscript i can be replaced with f (fiber), m (matrix), and e (elastomer) to show the constituents’

material properties of the stiff and fold regions.

3 Micro-CT driven characterization and FE modeling

A typical full-scale origami-inspired folding structure with stiff and fold regions is illustrated in

Figure 1 (a). A diverse combination of materials systems can be used to manufacture the two

constituents (stiff region, and fold region). The material properties clearly depend on the

manufacture processes. Here, we employed the manufacturing approach, developed in our

previous work [8], to fabricate the foldable composites. We used a dry glass fabric as a substrate

and architecturally-bonded glass prepregs laminates by a hot compression molding process to

5
divide the fabric in stiff and non-stiff regions. A simplified representative fold structure along with

the materials systems considered is also shown in Figure 1 (a). For the fold region, the selected

materials systems shall be capable of performing the folding operation (fold/unfold) without any

irreversible phenomena (permanent deformation, damage, etc.) for the required life cycle. For this

purpose, fold regions are typically fabricated using dry fabric infused with elastomer [8]. In

contrast, in the stiff region, light-weight materials systems with a high strength and stiffness are

required to provide mechanical strength and maintain the desired shape during the unfolding

operation. Therefore, the stiff region of the simplified representative folding structure (see

illustration in Figure 1 (a)) was manufactured by a stacking glass fiber prepreg and a dry glass

fabric. The elastic material properties of the individual components of FRPCs (see, Table 1) and

the XCT images stacks required to perform the Micro-CT driven virtual characterization are shown

in Figure 1 (b). The homogenized properties obtained were then used in the FE Model to simulate

the simplified fold structure of a typical full-scale origami structure using commercial software,

such as ABAQUS®. A typical fold and the results of the fold simulation are shown in Figure 1 (c).

The manufacturing and testing procedure of the simplified fold structure, virtual characterization

and FE simulations procedure are discussed in detail in the upcoming sections.

6
Figure 1: Micro-CT driven virtual characterization for ultra-thin membrane used in origami-inspired foldable structure

and FE modeling, (a) Illustration of a folding structure and a representative materials system, (b) Schematic of XCT

and voxel-based FE model, (c) Homogenized fold structure and FE simulation with shell elements.

3.1 Manufacturing and testing procedure

The first step is to demonstrate the viability of the virtual characterization method. For this

purpose, the XCT driven FE homogenization model should be validated with the experimental

data. Therefore, the samples within the stiff region of the origami-inspired folding structure were

manufactured and their mechanical properties were experimentally measured. Figure 2 (a) shows

the hot compression molding set-up used for manufacturing of the stiff region for tensile testing.

The partially-cured prepreg was placed on the top of the dry fabric to facilitate resin flow into the

dry fabric upon the application of pressure at high temperature. The laminate was covered with a

high temperature-resistant release film to avoid the bonding of resin to the top and bottom steel

heat plates. A pressure of 2 bar at 124oC for 1.5 h was maintained as recommended by the

manufacturer’s data sheet for Hexply® M26. It is important to mention that no additional epoxy

resin was introduced during the manufacture of the hybrid laminate.

7
Figure 2 (b) shows one of the fabricated samples indicating the nominal dimensions of length and

width according to the ASTM D3039 standard, whereas the average thickness of the hybrid

laminate was 0.4 mm. The experimental set-up for mechanical test is shown in Figure 2 (c). An

Instron 5969 universal testing machine (UTM), with a built-in digital image correlation (DIC)

facility having a load cell capacity of 50 kN, was used. These tests were performed in a

displacement-controlled mode at a rate of 2 mm/min. The representative strain field in the axial

direction along with the applied load is shown in Figure 2 (d). Furthermore, three samples with

dimensions of 30 mm × 20 mm were cut carefully at three different locations for XCT scanning to

account for the effects of geometrical variability in the homogenization of the elastic properties.

Figure 2: (a) Hot compression molding and manufacture of hybrid composites, (b) Fabricated sample with nominal

dimensions, (c) Mechanical tensile testing set-up, (d) Axial strain field.

Similarly, the simplified origami fold samples consisting of stiff and fold regions were

manufactured using hot compression molding and hand layup method, respectively, as shown in

8
Figure 3 (a). Three different steps are illustrated in Figure 3 (a). In the first step, two rectangular

patches (50 mm×47 mm each) of glass prepreg were stacked on the top of the dry glass fabric of

100 mm×50 mm size. The gap between the two prepreg patches was maintained as 6 mm, which

is the required size of the folding region. This minimum fold size was chosen from our previous

study based on the high recovery efficiency of the origami fold after unloading [8]. The laminate

was then placed in the hot press under the same pressure and temperature (2 bar at 124o C for 1.5

h) conditions as were used in the manufacturing of the tensile samples of the hybrid laminate. After

curing of the stiff region of the origami fold, the two-component silicone-based elastomer

(Smooth-SilTM 936) was prepared at a mixing ratio of 100A:10B shown in step 2 in Figure 3 (a).

The elastomer was degassed in the vacuum degassing chamber and then applied to the fold region

using hand a layup method (see step 3). The origami fold samples were kept at ambient conditions

for 6 h for curing. An example of a final sample with nominal dimensions is shown in Figure 3

(b), where basalt wooden tabs were attached using a commercially-available tape allowing free

rotation of both the ends in the fold tests as shown in Figure 3 (c). The fold tests were performed

using a Salt Universal Testing Machine (UTM) with a load cell of 100 N. The experimental set-

up of the origami fold sample is shown in Figure 3 (c). The time, force, displacement data

combined with the subtending angle formed by the fold region were collected.

9
Figure 3: (a) Manufacturing of origami fold, (b) One of the fabricated origami fold samples with nominal dimensions,

(c) Compression mechanical testing set-up and folds shape during folding operation.

3.2 XCT-driven homogenization

The homogenized or effective elastic properties of the FRPCs laminate can be calculated either by

using the ideal parametrized RVE or the real RVE. There are approaches based at the

micromechanics scale to incorporate geometric variability by measuring the spatial geometrical

variation in fiber/yarn morphology to predict the elastic properties [9,24–26]. However, such

models are usually computationally-expensive and complicated to implement. The XCT based

virtual characterization, based on the meso-scale for textile composites [13,15], gives freedom to

determine the elastic properties of combination of fabrics having various topology and weave

patterns, which is the case in a typical foldable structure construction inspired by origami. The

only limiting factor is the high capital costs associated with the XCT equipment, but the cost is

likely to decrease in near future with advances in XCT technology [12].

The XCT was used to acquire the radiographic projections of the stiff and fold regions and

characterize the elastic properties to be used in the folding simulation. A schematic of the process

for obtaining radiographic projections is shown in Figure 1 (b). The specimens for XCT were

mounted on a rotational stage which rotated the sample by an angle step defined by the user. A

General Electric (GE) Phoenix Nanotom® X-ray tomography system was used to scan the

10
fabricated samples. In case of GFRPs laminate, as given Table 1, a resolution of 4 μm (filament

diameter, 16 μm) was used in this study for XCT processing which was also used by Liu et al.

[13]. A series of radiographs were then processed in VoxTex® to perform materials segmentation.

The average gray values (𝐴𝐺𝑉) were calculated using Eqn. (1).

(1)
𝐴𝐺𝑉 = ∫ 𝐼𝑑𝑣
𝑊

Where 𝐼 is the gray value field, 𝑊 is the window of integration, and 𝑑𝑣 = 𝑑𝑥𝑑𝑦𝑑𝑧 [27].

The XCT images were converted into cubic sub-domains (i.e. voxels) which were treated as a

finite elements discretization, as shown in Figure 1 (b). In the voxel based virtual homogenization

scheme, each voxel was characterized by its own feature vector, denoted by 𝒗 (𝐴𝐺𝑉, 𝛽, 𝑃ℎ𝑖 ). The

three components of 𝒗 included the principal directions of anisotropy (𝑃ℎ𝑖 ), the degree of

anisotropy (𝛽) and 𝐴𝐺𝑉 [13,15]. Two of the components (𝐴𝐺𝑉 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝛽) are scalars whereas the

third component (𝑃ℎ𝑖 ) is a vector. These three variables were assigned to each voxel to divide an

image into a set of non-overlapping domains without gaps, known as segmentation. If a

segmentation between only fiber and matrix is required without classifying the tows into warp and

weft, then the two-parameter segmentation (𝐴𝐺𝑉, 𝛽) suffices [27]. There are also one-parameter-

segmentation approaches based on 𝐴𝐺𝑉 for finding the solid fraction in the RVE to be used for

permeability and 3D porosity distribution studies [12,28]. For the case of two-parameters and

three-parameters, the supervised segmentation technique, using a Gaussian mixture model, is

required, in which the user provides the training sets associated with each constituent to guide the

segmentation algorithm. Once the voxel model is generated then the Micro-CT driven virtual

11
homogenization technique can be applied to compute the effective properties of composites based

on the constituents’ properties of the FRPCs.

3.3 FE Simulations of origami folds

A typical origami fold consists of stiff and flexible fold regions as shown in Figure 1(c). To

perform an FE simulation, we need the effective properties of both the stiff and fold regions. The

XCT-assisted virtual homogenization approach was employed to obtain the elastic constants of

both types of composite, that is, the hybrid laminate in the stiff region and the elastomeric laminate

in the fold region. The elastic properties identified using virtual characterization were used to

model the stiff region and folding region as shown in Figure 1 (c) to perform FE simulation in

ABAQUS®. With regard to the FE modeling, two types of analysis were carried out. The first set

of simulations utilizes the linear buckling and post-buckling analysis based on the Static/Riks

solution step in ABAQUS®. In the second FE modeling approach, a bending analysis was

performed in the implicit Static/General solution environment by applying an initial small rotation

followed by a displacement on the one edge of the origami fold structure to complete the folding

operation [29].

4 Results and discussion

4.1 Generation of voxel-based real RVE

The manufactured samples with both the stiff region (i.e., hybrid laminate) and the fold region

(i.e., elastomer filled woven laminate) were scanned to generate XCT images. A representative

unit cell or RVE, having dimensions of 2.28×3.36×0.40 mm3, was selected by manual analyzing

the periodicity in all of the 1300 XCT images of the hybrid laminate as well as the elastomer filled

laminate as shown in Figure 3. It is important to mention that three samples were chosen for each

12
XCT analysis to record the geometrical variability in both types of sample. Since the same plain

weave E-glass fabric was used in the elastomer filled fold region, therefore a similar RVE was

selected for the homogenization of the fold region, as shown in Figure 3. However, the thickness

was 0.27 mm.

Figure 3: Representative XCT images from total of 1300 slices and selected size of RVE for both the stiff region and

fold region.

The RVE was divided into uniform cubic finite elements (voxels) with two scalar variables 𝐴𝐺𝑉

and degree of anisotropy (𝛽) following the procedure in [15]. The degree of anisotropy denoted by

𝛽 is calculated as:

𝜆1 (2)
1−,𝜆 > 0
𝛽={ 𝜆3 3
0, 𝜆3 = 0

In Eqn. (2), 𝜆1 ≤ 𝜆2 ≤ 𝜆3 are the eigenvalues of the structure tensor (𝑺) calculated by taking the

gradients of the 3D image 𝐼 = (𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , 𝑥3 ) with a suitable window of integration (𝑊) in a 3-

dimensional (3D) space as in Eqn. (3) [15].

13
 𝜕𝐼 𝜕𝐼 (3)
𝑆𝑖𝑗 = ∫ 𝑑𝑣
𝑊 𝜕𝑥𝑖 𝜕𝑥𝑗

The eigenvalues represent the maximum and minimum intensity variations in the image with

orthogonal directions. For the isotropic material, such as matrix and porosity, the values of 𝛽 is

considerably less than the anisotropic fiber. Before performing segmentation, the materials clusters

were first analyzed by plotting histograms of the population of voxels and their characteristic

feature vectors 𝒗 (𝐴𝐺𝑉, 𝛽, 𝑃ℎ𝑖 ). These histograms provided useful information about the XCT

images, on the basis of which, the material phases present in the heterogeneous materials were

sub-divided. Histograms of the scalar components of the feature vector (𝒗) are shown in Figure 4.

The 𝐴𝐺𝑉 profile is plotted for the number of voxels in Figure 4 (a). Two distant peaks highlighted

with different colors can be observed. The 𝐴𝐺𝑉 threshold value separating the two phases (matrix,

fiber) was selected, i.e. where the 𝐴𝐺𝑉 profile started to increase, showing the transition from

matrix to the glass fiber voxels. Similarly, the degree of anisotropy (𝛽) is shown in Figure 4 (b),

where for the isotropic material i.e. the matrix, the values are lower (~0.4) compared to the

anisotropic glass fiber. Moreover, the complete contours of the scalar variables (𝐴𝐺𝑉, 𝛽) are also

shown in the insets of each histogram plotted in Figure 4 (a, b). The total number of voxels

associated with the matrix and glass fibers are also shown. The values of the 𝐴𝐺𝑉 and 𝛽 were

found to be in agreement with previous studies on GFRPs [13,15,30]. So far, the warp and weft

were treated as a single material (see insets in Figure 4 (a, b)) which required further calculations

of the local orientation angle (𝑃ℎ𝑖) for subsequent subdivision into warp and weft yarns.

14
Figure 4: Analysis of the scalar components of the feature vector , (a) Histogram of AGV and corresponding contours

showing the AGV distribution of matrix and fiber in inset (b) Histogram of the degree of anistropy (𝜷) and

corresponding distribution in inset.

To create a complete real voxel-based RVE with three different material constituents i.e. warp,

weft, and matrix, the third component of the feature vector (𝒗) is required. For this purpose, the

first material principal direction was found by calculating the minimum variability in the

anisotropy given by the minimum eigenvalue, denoted by 𝜆1 , and the associated eigenvector 𝒗𝟏

which is along the fiber direction, since the image intensity variation in fiber direction is much

lower than that in the other two orthogonal directions. Further orthogonal projections onto 𝒗𝟏 in

the 𝑌𝑍 plane resulted into the two remaining eigenvectors, shown in the inset of the polar

coordinate system in Figure 5 (a). By plotting a 1D histogram of the azimuthal angle (𝑃ℎ𝑖) in the

polar coordinate system, two peaks in the number of voxels at 𝑝ℎ𝑖 = 00 and 𝑝ℎ𝑖 = 900 ,

representing the warp and weft fiber yarns in the plain weave and twill weave glass fabrics, were

identified, as shown in Figure 5 (a). Due to the fact that the plain weave was unbalanced, with a

lower aerial density in the warp direction, fewer voxels were associated with the warp yarns

compared to their weft counterparts.

15
Supervised segmentation was performed for each voxel by providing three training sets for the

matrix phase, warp phase, and weft phase using the feature vector 𝒗 (𝐴𝐺𝑉, 𝛽, 𝑃ℎ𝑖 ) [31]. These

training sets were in the form of a 3D group of voxels in which only one constituent of the three

materials was presented. The real 3D voxel-based RVE, created after the supervised segmentation

on the basis of the training sets supplied to the algorithm, is shown in Figure 5 (b). A similar voxel

size was adopted in the literature to perform homogenization [31]. Both the warp and weft yarns,

in addition to the matrix phase, can be clearly seen in the RVE. These represent the stiff regions

that are based on GFRP in the origami-inspired foldable structure.

Figure 5: (a) Orientation vector (𝑷𝒉𝒊 ) required for segmentation of warp and weft yarns, (b) Final real voxel-based

RVE (uniform mesh of cubic finite elements) with principal material directions 1-2-3.

4.2 Effective elastic properties

After having the real RVE with three different phases of material, an orientation averaging

technique was used for the calculation of the effective elastic properties in VoxTex®. The Chamis

model [32] is commonly used for the calculation of the effective properties of an individual UD

ply of FRPC. In Voxtex®, the homogenized elastic properties of each voxel associated with the

impregnated fiber yarn are also calculated based on Chamis’ model in the local fiber coordinate

16
system. Thus each voxel of impregnated yarn is treated as a UD ply. In contrast, for the matrix

voxels, the matrix isotropic elastic properties were assigned to all the corresponding voxels. The

effective stiffness tensor [𝐶𝑒𝑓𝑓 ] is calculated as [20]:

𝑁 (4)
𝐶𝑒𝑓𝑓 = ∑ 𝑤𝑖 [𝑇𝑖 ]𝑇 [𝐶𝑖 ][𝑇𝑖 ]
𝑖=1

Where 𝑤𝑖 is the volume fraction of the 𝑖 𝑡ℎ voxel in the RVE, 𝑁 denotes the total number of voxels

and 𝐶𝑖 describes the stiffness matrix of 𝑖 𝑡ℎ voxel. In addition, [𝑇𝑖 ] is the transformation matrix

used for transforming the local material coordinate system to the global RVE coordinate system.

Though the complete effective stiffness tensor [𝐶𝑒𝑓𝑓 ] was calculated based on Eqn. (4) but here

the focus is to compare the in-plane tensile moduli and Poisson’s ratio (𝑣12 ) with the experimental

data. The numerical effective moduli 𝐸1 = 𝐸𝑤𝑒𝑓𝑡 and 𝐸2 = 𝐸𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑝 were calculated as 28.56 GPa

and 23.83 GPa, respectively. The values reported here are the average values calculated from the

XCT taken at three different positions from three different samples to incorporate statistical

material variability. The corresponding average experimental moduli following three repetitions

were measured as 𝐸𝑤𝑒𝑓𝑡 = 29.06 𝐺𝑃𝑎 and 𝐸𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑝 = 25.97 𝐺𝑃𝑎 representing errors of -1.6% and

-8.2%, respectively with the homogenized effective properties. The average fitted line in the upper

and lower experimental bounds of the stress-strain plot is shown in Figure 6 (a) whereas the

comparison to the XCT-based effective moduli is shown in Figure 6 (b) with the deviation from

the average values. The complete effective properties required for the stiffness matrix of the

laminates in the fold region and stiff regions in FE simulation are given in next section.

17
Figure 6: Effective/homogenized elastic proeprties and comparison with tensile experiments, (a) Stress-strain plot of

tensile experiment, (b) Comparison of the average effective tensile moduli with the experiment.

4.3 XCT-driven FE simulation of folding structure

The FE modeling of an origami fold sample was performed using ABAQUS®. The dimensions of

the origami fold were 100 mm × 50 mm × 0.4 mm with a 6 mm central flexible fold region as

shown in Figure 7 (a). This simplified folding sample was selected deliberately as this is the

smallest building block of various full-structural level deployable origami-inspired systems

exhibiting the two fundamental functions required [8,29,33].

The FE model of a simple origami fold sample was generated using virtually characterized elastic

properties obtained through XCT-driven homogenization. Homogenized anisotropic elastic

properties (𝐸1 , 𝐸2 , 𝐸3 , 𝜈12 , 𝜈13 , 𝜈23 , 𝐺12 , 𝐺13 , 𝐺23 ) of elastomer laminate and hybrid laminate (see

Table 2) obtained using virtual characterization were used for the fold and stiff regions,

respectively.

Table 2: Homogenized elastic properties of origami fold structure (stiff region and fold region).

18
 Elastic E1 E2 E3 ν12 ν13 ν23 G12 G13 G23
constants (GPa) (GPa) (GPa) (GPa) (GPa) (GPa)

Stiff region 23.83 28.56 13.04 0.13 0.33 0.32 5.12 4.81 4.85

Fold region 7.93 9.95 0.51 0.13 0.45 0.58 0.08 0.14 0.16

The boundary conditions (BCs) used in the FE modeling are shown in Figure 7 (b). The lower

edge was only allowed to rotate about the x-axis, whereas a distributed load (𝑃) was applied on

the upper edge keeping the displacement and rotational BCs as zero in the x, and z-axis. The force

(𝑃) required to initiate buckling in the origami fold was calculated using the linear buckling

analysis and the 𝑃 corresponding to the first mode is given as the load in Static/Riks solution STEP

in ABAQUS® to obtain the post-buckling response. An imperfection was provided to the Riks

solution STEP as the initial condition which was assumed as a fraction (2 × 𝑒 −4 ) times of the first

mode of linear buckling. The meshed model of the origami fold with S4R5 shell elements having

element sizes of 1 mm × 1 mm in the stiff region and 1 mm × 0.75 mm for the fold region is shown

in Figure 7 (c). The fold region was modeled as two layers in a composite having one layer based

on the pure elastomer (thickness, 0.13 mm), and other layer of elastomer-filled laminate (thickness,

0.27 mm).

Two different material constitutive laws for the fold region in the post-buckling analysis were

used. In the first set of FE analysis, the fold region was assumed as a homogenized anisotropic

elastic material and the corresponding anisotropic elastic properties, given in Table 2, were used.

Owing to the fact that FRPCs exhibit a non-linear behavior, attributed to irreversible phenomena,

such as permanent strain (plastic) and various damage modes in the matrix, in addition to the

permanent rearrangement of the fiber caused by the external load [34,35]. Therefore, an

elastoplastic constitutive law was also used for the fold region in order to enhance the accuracy of

19
the FE modeling. The evolving yield stress as a function of the accumulated equivalent plastic

strain (𝑝) in power law form denoted by 𝜎𝑦 (𝑝) was determined by fitting the experimental data of

the folding experiment as:

𝜎𝑦 (𝑝) = 𝜎0 + 𝛽𝑝𝛼 (4)

Where 𝜎0 is the initial yield stress of the fold region which was used as 60 MPa. The exponent (𝛼)

and coefficient (𝛽) of the power law were found as 0.18, and 230 MPa, respectively.

Figure 7: Finite element modeling of the origami fold structure, (a) Dimensions and material description, (b)

Simulation set-up and boundary conditions, (c) Finite element mesh with S4R5 shell elements.

The folding tests of the origami fold sample were performed in order to compare the XCT-driven

FE results with the experiments. The force vs. displacement and corresponding moment vs.

curvature results were obtained by applying compressive force as shown in Figure 8 (a). Different

folding stages of the sample performing folding operation are shown in Figure 8 (a). The

20
symmetric deformation of the folded origami sample during the final stage of loading can be seen

in Figure 8 (a). The corresponding folding stages predicted by the ABAQUS® software are shown

in Figure 8 (b) where a similar symmetric deformation response within the fold region is evident.

Figure 8: Folding operation, (a) Experiment where symmtric deformation of the fold region is highlighted, (b) FE

simulation based on post-buckling analysis.

Next, the bending analysis through the application of a compressive load was carried out to

evaluate further the utility of the XCT-driven FE modeling approach and compare with the data

available in the literature. White et al. [29] reported the findings of an FE analysis of a similar

simple origami fold sample manufactured using a dual-matrix approach, that is, an epoxy resin in

the stiff regions and an elastomer in fold region. The solution step of the post-buckling was

modified using an implicit Static/General analysis step in ABAQUS® rather than Static/Riks. In

addition, a small rotation of 0.1 rad was applied on the top edge (see Figure 7 (b)) followed by a

displacement of 90 mm, to complete the folding operation. Figure 9 (a) shows the force vs.

compressive displacement plots following the bending experiment and FE results of the origami

fold from our study (both elastic and elastoplastic) as well as those from White et al. [29] based

on only an elastic material behavior. The XCT-driven FE results based on the elastic material

21
behavior of both the fold and the stiff region are in good agreement with the FE results of White

et al. [29].

Figure 9 (b) shows the force-displacement curves of the FE analysis undertaken by assuming an

elastoplastic material behavior and the corresponding bending experiment previously shown in

Figure 8 (a). Contrary to the experimental findings of White et al. [29], all of our experiments

required the adoption of a non-linear constitutive behavior for modeling the folding behavior. In

our experiments, the load decreased to a particular value after a maximum peak load. The accuracy

of the XCT-driven FE model was demonstrated by the peak load being found to be near to the

experimental load, with a 5% error. Furthermore, the moment (𝑀) vs. curvature (𝜅) of the FE

simulation using the XCT homogenized properties and experiment were also compared as shown

in Figure 9 (c). The 𝑀 vs. κ plot was calculated using the Eqns. (a to c) [5] given in the inset in

Figure 9 (c) where 𝑏 and 𝐿 are the widths of the fold region and stiff region, respectively, as shown

in the schematic in Figure 9 (d). Moreover, 𝐹 is the load, 𝑊 is the weight of the sample, 𝑑 is the

moment arm, and θ was measured from the video during the test. The weight of the sample (𝑊)

was neglected in the calculation of the moment from the force in Eqn. (c). By using XCT based

virtual characterization of laminate properties, this study demonstrates the possibility of simulating

and optimizing a full-scale origami-inspired folding structure made from ultra-thin laminates in

order to minimize the number of experiments.

22
Figure 9: Experimental and FE results of the origami fold region in compression bending, (a) Force vs. displacement,

(b) FE results and experimenrtal comparsion of bending behavior, (c) Moment vs. curvature plot, (d) Schematic of the

origami fold sample and geometrical parameters.

5 Conclusions
This research shows that a full-scale origami-inspired foldable structure made of ultra-thin

laminates is capable of being simulated and optimized using an XCT-based virtual characterization

of the laminate properties. Here, a simple fold was designed that comprised of two basic regions

(stiff and fold region) of a typical large-scale folding structure. XCT-driven FE based

homogenization was carried out on an RVE of the real microstructure of a dual-matrix ultra-thin

composite laminate manufactured through compression molding and hand layup techniques. The

23
effective properties of both stiff region (hybrid epoxy laminate) and fold region (elastomer

laminate) were experimentally measured. The FE homogenization results were found to be in good

agreement with the experimental data of both the stiff and fold regions. Finally, we demonstrate

the applicability of XCT-driven FE modeling to simulate foldable structures. Folding tests were

conducted on a simple fold and the plots of force vs. displacement and moment vs. curvature were

obtained. XCT-driven FE modeling of a foldable structure were performed using two solution

techniques i.e. bending and post-buckling analysis. Both modeling approaches were able to predict

the symmetric folding pattern observed in the experiments. The XCT-driven FE model based on

the elastic material properties for both the stiff and fold regions was found capable to predict the

experimental trends available in the literature. However, to model the folding testing response

carried out in this study, a nonlinear elastoplastic material behavior was adopted for the elastomer-

filled fold region.

Acknowledgments

This publication is based on work supported by the ASPIRE Abu Dhabi Award for Research

Excellence (AARE-2020) under project number 8434000424/AARE20-124.

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Declaration of Interest Statement

Declaration of interests

☒ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships
that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

☐The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered
as potential competing interests: