A method for characterization of elastic in-plane material properties of continuous fiber reinforced polymer tubes

Abstract

As fiber reinforced polymers are becoming commonplace in more and more industries every year, the need for accurate engineering tools connected to these materials arises. In several industries tubular composites are a staple, however the manufacturing methods used for tubular laminated composites do not transfer well into making test coupons for traditional material testing. This creates the need for a method where material properties can be derived from testing of tubular specimen. This thesis therefore aims to create a method for characterizing the elastic in-plane material properties of a tubular fiber reinforced composite. The method uses physical tests of two specific lay ups in order to isolate and derive the in-plane material properties one by one. The results of this thesis shows that the material properties derived from the test data is within close proximity of other material systems using the same fibers, which suggests that a promising first step has been taken. However, there is a need for validation in order to finalize the accuracy of the model. Furthermore a number of practical suggestions are made to reduce error sources for future testing.