TENSILE BEHAVIOR OF KNITTED CARBON-FIBER-FABRIC/EPOXY LAMINATES .2. PREDICTION OF TENSILE PROPERTIES

This paper describes models for predicting the elastic modulus and tensile strength of knitted fabric reinforced epoxy laminates. The elastic modulus is predicted by using a modified rule-of-mixtures law incorporating the efficiency of reinforcement of curved spun yarn fibres. The predicted elastic moduli are in reasonably good agreement with the experimental results. The tensile strength is predicted from the sequence of events leading to fracture and by estimating the fracture strength of fibre bundles bridging the fracture plane. The predicted tensile strengths are higher than the experimental values. This is attributed to the bending stresses which reduce the failure load of the bundles.