Fracture characteristics of knitted fabric composites under tensile load

Abstract

This paper reports tensile properties of single layer and multilayer knitted glass fabric reinforced epoxy composites. The single layer composite was subjected to tensile load in off-axis angles of 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90°. The multilayer laminates stacked as configurations of [0°]4, [0°/±45°/0°], [0°/90°/90°/0°] and [90°]4 were tested under a uniaxial tensile load. Emphasis was on the fracture characteristics of these composites. A 'matrix digestion and layer peeling' method was used to visualize the fracture modes of all the layers in a fractured laminate on a lamina level. It was found that the fracture mode of an angle-plied lamina in the laminate is different from that of a single layer composite under an off-axial tensile load.