The effect of fiber architecture on the mechanical properties of carbon/epoxy composites

The main aim of this study was to get a better knowledge of mechanical properties of carbon fabric reinforced epoxy (CF/Ep) composites. The selected mechanical properties of the CF/Ep composite with different fiber architectures (T300CF/Ep, T700CF/Ep and T800CF/Ep) are investigated for indentation, in-plane, tensile and bending loads. All composites were fabricated with equal weight percentage of carbon fiber and similar consolidation process using hand layup procedure followed by compression moulding method. Experimental results showed that the effect of fiber weave structure on mechanical properties of the CF/Ep composites is more obvious than that in neat epoxy. Both tensile and flexural results showed that high strength carbon fiber (T800) has evident strengthening effects on the tensile and bending load response of CF/Ep composites. The fiber architecture marginally affects the density and severely affects strength and deformation of composites. T300CF/Ep and T800CF/Ep composites are nearly linear up to final brittle fracture while T700CF/Ep system exhibit non-linearity before failure. Furthermore, it is seen that composite performance is dictated by inherent properties of carbon fiber and weaves structure. Even with fiber flaws, stress concentrations, the weaving pattern is beneficial because it makes composites to be very less subtle to flaws. These characteristics are addressed systematically with consideration of numerical aspects of fibers strength and critical defects formation. The significant developments in the mechanical properties of composite systems are further assisted using scanning electron microscopy. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.