Mechanical characterisation of glass- and carbon-fibre-reinforced composites made with non-crimp fabrics

The labour-intensive requirements of manufacturing unidirectional prepreg tape laminates is driving industry to examine alternative processing routes that combine all the attributes of unidirectional prepreg tapes, brit with reduced cost. One such technique that offers automated high-volume production with the potential for near-net-shape manufacturing is the textile process. The genre of particular interest in this investigation was the wasp-knit (non-crimp) fabric. The 'elastic' macro-mechanical behaviour of the unidirectional prepreg tapes and non-crimp fabrics were predicted satisfactorily by using classical thin laminate theory. Mechanisms of failure in the non-crimp fabrics may generally be linked to crimp in the tows, but with subtle differences driving failure in tension and compression. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Limited.