An experimental study on the mechanical performance and damage evolution of woven fabric e-glass fiber reinforced epoxy composite

The present study focuses on the mechanical performance and damage evolution of woven fabric E-glass fiber reinforced epoxy composite (7781/F155-glass/epoxy). For the identical behavior in the 0o and the 90o directions of the tested material, the mechanical experiments were performed with 0o and 45o specimens. Three kinds of tests were implemented respectively: tension test with 0o specimen, compression test with 0o specimen, and tension test with 45o specimen which represents the in-plane shear test. Tension, compression and in-plane shear damage, which are defined as the decreasing ratio of modulus, were calculated from the data of quasi-static cyclic tests. The influence of loading rate on material behaviors were investigated under three different loading rates. Although all of the three loading rates are low, it showed that the strain rate has obvious effects on the ultimate strengths and moduli of the glass fiber reinforced epoxy composite.