Abstract
Micro-warpping of sub-scale fibre bundles with thermoplastic fibres has been explored for improved intra-tow hybridisation in comparison to traditional commingling process. This paper investigates matrix toughening of thermoset composites with thermoplastic fibres delivered through textile preforming and hence does not adversely effect resin viscosity during the infusion process. Tow-scale thermoplastic fibres appear to diffuse cracks from inter-laminar to intra-tow due to relatively weak interface, and at the same time protect the reinforcing fibres by acting as elastic foundations during impact loading. In this paper, two hybridisation methods, traditional commingling and novel micro-wrapping, have been compared for assessing the impact damage performance of thermoset composite laminates. It appears that micro-wrapped laminates exhibit better impact and damage tolerance performance than the commingled composite laminates due to the smaller impact induced damage areas and better PP fibre distribution. Improved thermoplastic fibre distribution in micro-wrapped tow architechture has been shown to improve impact damage tolerance through mechanisms of fibre cushioning and intra-tow crack dispersion.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 108935 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Composites Science and Technology |
Volume | 213 |
Early online date | 7 Jul 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 8 Sept 2021 |
Keywords
- A. Hybrid yarns
- A. Core-wrapping
- B. Impact behaviour
- C. Damage tolerance