Experimental characterization of triaxially braided composites

Manufacturing and testing textile composite materials is a time consuming and expensive procedure. Therefore numerical methods can be used to simulate the material behavior under certain loading conditions. In this research, mechanical properties of two-dimensional triaxially braided composites were determined by means of experimental testing to get insight in the material behavior as well as for providing data to support the development of analytical and numerical methods. In-plane properties were obtained using tensile and shear tests. Post-mortem specimens were used to indentifying damage mechanisms, which were visualized using metallographic samples. Interlaminar as well as translaminar fracture toughness were determined in Mode-I and Compact Tension tests respectively. Unstable crack growth propagation was found in the specimens from both test due to fiber bridging and fiber branching.