Progressive Failure Analysis of Laminated Knitted Fabric Composites Under 3-Point Bending

Abstract

The bending behavior of laminated beams reinforced with differently arranged plain-weft knitted fabrics has been investigated in this paper. Experiments were carried out to measure the bending stiffness and strength of six layers knitted fabric rein-forced epoxy composite laminates under 3-point bending. The laminate lay-ups of [0/0/0/0/0/0], [90/90/90/90/90/90] and [0/-45/45/45/-45/0] have been taken into account, where 0 denotes that the fabric wale direction is arranged along the beam axial direction. A simulation procedure is presented to analyze the bending property of the laminated beams based on the bridging micromechanics model and the classical lamination theory. It has been found that the use of a stress failure criterion only is no longer enough for estimating the ultimate bending strength of the laminate. An additional critical deflection condition is also required. By using only the constituent properties, which were measured using bulk material specimens independently, and the fabric knitting and lay-up parameters, the predicted stiffness and strength agree favorably with the experimental data.

Keywords

laminated composites knitted fabric composites bending property progressive failure analysis micromechanics bridging model stress failure criterion critical deflection

References

1. Leong, K.H. , Ramakrishna, S. , Huang, Z.M. , and Bibo, G.A. , 2000, The Potential of Knitting for Engineering Composites—A Review, Composites: Part A, 31, 197-220.

2. Kamiya, R. , Cheeseman, B.A. , Popper, P. , and Chou, T.W. , 2000, Some Recent Advances in the Fabrication and Design of Three-Dimensional Textile Preforms: A Review, Comp. Sci. & Tech.,60(1), 33-47.

3. Hearle, J.W.S. , 1995, Textile for Composites—Part II: Multiple Dimensions and Directions, Textile Horizons, 15(1), 11.

4. Mayer, J. , Wintermantel, E. , Angelis, F. De , Niedermeier, M. , Buck, A. , and Flemming, M. , 1991, Carbon Fiber Knitting Reinforcement (K-CF) of Thermoplastics: A Novel Composite, Proc. of Euromat, Cambridge, pp. 18-26.

5. Huang, Z.M. and Ramakrishna, S. , 1999, Development of Knitted Fabric Reinforced Composite Material for Prosthetic Application, Advanced Composites Letters, 8(6), 289-294.

6. Rudd, C.D. , Owen, M.J. , and Middleton, V. , 1990, Mechanical Properties of Weft Knit Glass Fiber/Polyester Laminates, Comp. Sci. & Tech., 39, 261-277.

7. Ko, F.K. , Pastore, C.M. , Yang, J.M. and Chou, T.W. , 1986, Structure and Properties of Multilayer Multidirectional Warp Knit Fabric Reinforced Composites, Proc. of 3rd Japan-U.S. Conference, Tokyo, pp. 21-28.

8. Ruan, X.P. and Chou, T.W. , 1996, Experimental and Theoretical Studies of the Elastic Behavior of Knitted-Fabric Composites, Comp. Sci. & Tech., 56, 1391-1403.

9. Gommers, B. , Verpoest, I. , and Houtte, P. , 1998, The Mori-Tanaka Method Applied to Textile Composite Materials, Acta Mater., 46, 2223-2235.

10.

10. Leong, K.H. , Nguyen, M. , and Herszberg, I. , 1999, The Effects of Deforming Knitted Glass Preforms on the Basic Composite Mechanical Properties, J. Mater. Sci., 34(10), 2377-2387.

11.

11. Huang, Z.M. , Ramakrishna, S. , and Tay, A.A.O. , 1999, A Micromechanical Approach to the Tensile Strength of a Knitted Fabric Composite, J. of Comp. Mater., 33(19), 1758-1791.

12.

12. Huang, Z.M. and Ramakrishna, S. , 2000, Micromechanical Modeling Approaches for the Stiffness and Strength of Knitted Fabric Composites: A Review & Comparative Study, Composite A,31(5), 479-501.

13.

13. Huang, Z.M. , Ramakrishna, S. , and Tay, A.A.O. , 2000, Modeling of Stress-Strain Behavior of a Knitted Fabric Reinforced Elastomer Composite, Comp. Sci. & Tech., 60(5), 671-691.

14.

14. Huang, Z.M. , Ramakrishna, S. , Zhang, Y.Z. , and Tay, A.A.O. , 2001, Prediction of Tensile Strength of Multilayer Knitted Fabric Reinforced Laminated Composites, J. of Thermoplastic Composite Materials, 14(1), 70-83.

15.

15. Huang, Z.M. , 2001, Simulation of the Mechanical Properties of Fibrous Composites by the Bridging Micromechanics Model, Composites Part A, 32(2), 143-172.

16.

16. Gibson, R.F. , 1994, Principles of Composite Material Mechanics, McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York.

17.

17. Gommers, B. , Verpoest, I. , and Houtte, P.V. , 1996, Modeling the Elastic Properties of Knitted-Fabric-Reinforced Composites, Comp. Sci. & Tech., 56, 685-694.

18.

18. Leaf, G.A.V. and Glaskin, A. , 1955, The Geometry of A Plain Knitted Loop, J. Textile Inst., 45, T587-T605.

19.

19. Adams, D. F. , 1974, Elastoplastic Behavior of Composites, in Mechanics of Composite Materials, G.P. Sendeckyj ed., Academic Press, New York, pp. 169-208.

20.

20. Soden, P.D. , Hinton, M.J. , and Kaddour, A.S. (1998a), Lamina Properties, Lay-up Configurations and Loading Conditions for a Range of Fiber-Reinforced Composite Laminates, Comp. Sci. & Tech, 58, 1011-1022.