Abstract
The effects of fiber crimpiness and other structural parameters on the compressibility of a random fiber mass are analyzed by a model simulation based on the modified theory of fiber contact that we have developed. In place of the crimp ratio defined conventionally for single fibers, we introduce a novel idea based on statistical definition to represent the degree of curliness of fibers as a mass characteristic, the reciprocal of which measures the degree of spatial spread that fibers assume on average within the mass. This new concept is incorporated into the micromechanical theories of fiber masses we proposed earlier to elucidate the dependence of compressive properties of random fiber masses on the crimpiness and length of constituent fibers, as well as on the initial mass density.
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