PREDICTION OF MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF SHORT KEVLAR FIBER-NYLON-6,6 COMPOSITES

Injection molded short Kevlar (DuPont) fiber/nylon-6,6 composites have been studied. Fiber length and length distribution were measured as a function of processing variables. Critical fiber length was measured by an embedded single-fiber method. Tensile modulus of the molded comp osites was predicted by an adapted classical lamination analogy. Fiber and matrix orientation factors, derived from X-ray diffraction, were introduced to modify Kelly Tyson equation to estimate the composite te nsile strength. It has been found that fiber length is dramatically sh ortened by the injection molding process, and is affected by processin g conditions. Predictions gave reasonable agreement with data for tens ile modulus and strength.