Paper number 850

MEASUREMENT OF THE LOCAL FIBRE STRAIN DISTRIBUTIONS IN WOVEN COMPOSITES

S.Y. Lei and R.J.Young

Manchester Material Science Centre,
UMIST/University of Manchester,
Grosvenor Street, Manchester, M1 7HS, UK.

Summary Woven composites have received increasing attention from the composites industry over the past 20 years. Understanding of microscopic deformation mechanics is essential to a full understanding of the macroscopic mechanical properties of composites. Using Raman Spectroscopy, it is possible to measure strain distribution along a single fibre within an optically transparent matrix. This method has been extended to woven fabric composites. One-dimensional strain distributions have been measured along the centre of the one repeat unit in a variety of woven aramid/epoxy composites. The local strain distributions have been measured at several levels of overall strain. Subsequently, two-dimensional distributions of strain have been built up by taking several parallel linear strain distributions across single sections of fibres in the woven structure. These findings will help in the understanding of macroscopic deformation processes in woven fabric composites.
Keywords woven fabric composites, aramid fibres, Raman spectrocopy.

Theme : Textiles ; Fabrics Structures

[ HOME ]  [ BACK ]