COMPRESSIVE FAILURE OF LAMINATED AND WOVEN COMPOSITES

The effect of fiber architecture upon the compressive failure mechanis ms is investigated for a wide range of fiber composites. Compressive r ests are performed on both notched and unnotched specimens made from T 800 carbon fiber-924C epoxy laminates, AS4 carbon fiber-PEEK laminates , 2D woven T800 carbon fiber-924 epoxy, and 3D woven AS4 carbon fiber- LY564 epoxy. Additionally, unnotched and notched compressive tests are performed on beechwood and birch plywood. In all cases, the dominant failure mechanism is by fiber microbuckling. An infinite band kinking model is used to estimate the unnotched strength and a large-scale cra ck bridging analysis is used to predict the notched strength.