A SELF-ALIGNED TEST FIXTURE FOR INTERLAMINAR TENSILE TESTING OF 2-DIMENSIONAL CARBON-CARBON COMPOSITES

The interlaminar tensile testing of two-dimensional carbon-carbon lami nates requires special attention on aligning the specimen with the tes t fixture. A self-aligned test fixture is designed to efficiently carr y out such tests. The self-alignment of the two pull rods of the test fixture is achieved by holding the threaded pull rods by means of a nu t prior to gripping the pull rods with the loading frame. It is demons trated that the fixture can easily be used to measure interlaminar ten sile stiffness and strength of thin carbon-carbon specimens. The inter laminar tensile stiffness and strength of three carbon-carbon laminate s ([0/90]2s, [0/90/ +/- 45]s, and [0/90/ +/- 45]3s) measured by the pr esent test fixture are reported.