Mechanical Characterization Of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics Specimens For Aerospace Applications

The use of new Composites Fibers Reinforced Plastics materials for structural applications in aerospace industry is fast increasing in the last years. Ensuring high performances requires a deep knowledge of the mechanical behavior of the composite components subjected to different workloads. Components are subjected to strict environmental conditions that are typical of flight settings, as cold temperature and/or elevated temperature close to engines. In the typical assembly of composites, multiple layers are stacked together with a given sequence. Layers could be organized with different angles, different sequences and different technological process for providing specific mechanical properties that need to be studied. The possibility to introduce new parameters, able to improve mechanical properties of composites is also investigated. It refers to an unconventional fibers orientation combined with the through-the-thickness stitching on the in-plane mechanical properties of composites. Conventional carbon fibers orientation is generally referred to a Cartesian coordinate system, in which fibers are arranging in bundles along different angle orientations respect to the zero lamina. The opportunity to use a polar coordinate system of continues carbon tow is introduced to create specimens as well as complex geometry components easily. The application of this technique aims to introduce some advantages in the material's manufacturing process and if compared with the conventional strategy seems to be very promising since it appears to be very efficient in stopping delamination phenomenon. POLYM. COMPOS., 00:000–000, 2018. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers