Testing the 2-3 Shear Strength of Unidirectional Composite

Conference · Tue Oct 16 00:00:00 EDT 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95510-0_9· OSTI ID:1504732

Fenner, Joel S.; Daniel, Isaac M.

In this study, the objective was to measure the “out-of-plane” 2-3 shear strength of unidirectional composite, working within constraints in supplied material geometry. Unidirectional carbon/epoxy composite material was tested using a sandwich-type beam specimen under 3-point bending with a low span-to-thickness ratio to achieve failure under 2-3 shear. Specimens were carefully designed to deliberately cause shear failure near the midplane, avoiding other possible failure mechanisms. A photoelastic coating and post-mortem microscopy were used to verify failures. Results were compared with a simple analytical description of failure and found to have good agreement. Notably, this approach was able to accommodate the limitations of the supplied material (thin sheets) while still providing an accurate means of obtaining the F23 shear strength of the material. The results also imply the possibility of testing the transverse tensile strength (F2t) in lieu of performing a shear test, which is far simpler, and inferring the out-of-plane shear strength F23.

• Research Organization: Ford Motor Company, Detroit, MI (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V)
• DOE Contract Number: EE0006867
• OSTI ID: 1504732
• Resource Relation: Conference: Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English