Assessment of a unique reinforcement construction on mechanical behaviour of composite structures

Abstract

The construction type of reinforcement material is a critical factor playing an essential role in the mechanical performance of composite materials. Recently, much attention has been attracted to discovering the mechanical behaviour of glass woven fabric, such as plain and different variations of twill and satin reinforced composites. In this paper, it is aimed to test the effect of a combination of unique characteristics of woven and knitted fabrics in the same matrix on the mechanical behaviour of composites. In this direction, carbon tows are fabricated into plain woven, 2/2 twill woven and interlock knitted fabrics. The effect of reinforcement construction on bending and tensile properties like strength, modulus and strain of epoxy composites manufactured in three variations as woven, knitted and woven/knitted reinforced was investigated by conducting 3-point bending and tensile tests. Experimental results indicated that hybrid composites displayed lower bending strength than woven fabric composites. However, a combination of 2/2 twill woven and knitted fabric in hybrid composites, including five fabric layers, had a higher bending modulus than 2/2 twill woven composites, including seven fabric layers. Also, it was observed that the mechanical performance of hybrid composites under tensile load was poor compared to the woven fabric composites.