  The present work introduces a novel numerical approach for the process
modeling of fiber-reinforced thermoset polymers at the micro-scale level, that
can be used to predict curing-induced residual stresses. The cure kinetics is
described using an auto-catalytic phenomenological model and an instantaneous
linear-elastic constitutive law is used to evaluate the stress state evolution
as a function of the degree of cure and time. The proposed method is based on
refined structural theories derived from the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF).
A series of numerical assessments is carried out to evaluate the performance of
CUF models in micro-scale curing analysis - considering neat resin, a
single-fiber repeating unit cell, and a representative volume element with 20
randomly distributed fibers. Comparing the CUF predictions with reference 3D
finite element (3D-FE) models demonstrates the accuracy of the present approach
in stress analysis. It is also shown that CUF models are an order-of-magnitude
faster than those based on conventional 3D-FE, for similar accuracy of results.
