Mechanical Testing of Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composite Laminates

Abstract

FRP composite materials are promising materials for lightweight structures. However, careful evaluation of strength is an important task. However, testing of FRP composite laminate is difficult along with achieving good repeatability. Because, the FRP laminates are highly anisotropic and heterogeneous. Thus, each experimental test results can deviate from each other, which may not provide repeatability and reliability. Moreover, the mechanical properties of these materials are more susceptible to microcracks and environmental conditions. More importantly, the material properties significantly influenced by the manufacturing method. On the whole, careful evaluation of these materials is a tedious and challenging task. Thus, in this section, a few common testing procedures are explained briefly which are conducted according to the ASTM standards so that basic understanding of FRP composite laminates mechanical testing can be developed. Further, few basic failure modes observed under different loading condition are also covered briefly. Since, specimen preparation for testing is also an important aspect of mechanical testing. Thus, this chapter includes a section where preparation of FRP composites for different mechanical testing is explained. However, there are different testing standards for FRP laminates. Here, only ASTM standards are referred and explained. For more details, authors of this book request the reader to go through the corresponding ASTM standards for more details.KeywordsFRP compositesMechanical testingASTM Standards