Characteristic failure initiation sites in plain weave textile composites

Abstract

Failure initiation locations were determined in the tows and matrix pockets of a plain weave textile composite for a wide variety of loading conditions in an attempt to identify characteristic failure initiation sites. Failure was found to initiate in a limited number of locations in the composite for a wide variety of loading conditions. It was also found that the different degrees of weave undulation studied shared similar characteristic failure initiation sites. Additionally, it was observed that some idealized features of the textile geometry led to fictitious stress concentrations that could artificially bias the predicted failure initiation locations. Steps were taken to reduce the influence of such stress concentrations, including modifying the textile geometry and excluding certain problematic regions of the textile from consideration when searching for failure initiation locations.