Experimental studies are presented on quasi-static tensile and compressive loading of composites hybridised at two levels: intraply and interply. Consistent reinforcements in the form of novel unidirectional fabrics were developed using T700SC carbon and E-CR glass fibres. Composites were manufactured using Resin Transfer Moulding process with epoxy resin and characterised to ensure consistency and comparability, further enabling easier understanding and confirmation of hybrid effect in a reliable way. Failure strain in tension for interply hybrid revealed a positive hybrid effect of +7.4%, while interply hybrid showed a negative hybrid effect of −6.4% in compression. Intraply hybrid with three carbon and three glass tows blocked together demonstrated the best mechanical performance among all hybrids; synergistic effects of +17.8% and +39.6% in tensile and compressive strength, respectively, was observed for this hybrid configuration. The results show that different hybridisation strategies can be exploited to balance cost and performance of composites for structural and lightweight applications.

In this study an attempt is made to link the damage and microstructural evolution of semicrystalline polymers, in particular polyamide 6, to the macroscopic material behavior during tensile and creep tests. Tensile specimens, removed before failure were seen to have undergone striction. They were examined using synchrotron radiation tomography. These samples showed elongated axisymmetric columns of voids separated by thin ligaments of material. These observations were confirmed and refined through a cryofractography experiment of a different tensile sample, stopped before failure. An attempt was made to obtain quantitative data about void volume fraction and morphology through image analysis. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 1516–1525, 2010

Being able to predict the lifetime of elastomers is fundamental for many industrial applications. The evolution of both tensile and compression behavior of unfilled and filled neoprene rubbers was studied over time for different ageing conditions (70 °C, 80 °C and 90 °C). While Young’s modulus increased with ageing, the bulk modulus remained almost constant, leading to a slight decrease in the Poisson’s ratio with ageing, especially for the filled rubbers. This evolution of Poisson’s ratio with ageing is often neglected in the literature where a constant value of 0.5 is almost always assumed. Moreover, the elongation at break decreased, all these phenomena having a similar activation energy (~80 kJ/mol) assuming an Arrhenius or pseudo-Arrhenius behavior. Using simple scaling arguments from rubber elasticity theory, it is possible to relate quantitatively Young’s modulus and elongation at break for all ageing conditions, while an empirical relation can correlate Young’s modulus and hardness shore A. This suggests the crosslink density evolution during ageing is the main factor that drives the mechanical properties. It is then possible to predict the lifetime of elastomers usually based on an elongation at break criterion with a simple hardness shore measurement.

Mechanical properties of fibre reinforced composites are primarily dependent on those of fibres. Fibre properties are used for estimating the damage and strength behaviour of composite materials and structures. Tensile strength of fibres is commonly determined by single fibre tensile tests, which is challenging and is prone to measurement errors. In this study, different possible sources of errors due to experimental limitations in the fibre testing process were identified. Their effect on fibre tensile strength was analytically modelled. This model was used to evaluate the uncertainty in experimentally determined fibre strength. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to rank the relative significance of input quantities on the calculated fibre strength. Since composite models require fibre properties determined at very small gauge lengths, the results of the sensitivity analysis were extrapolated to determine critical parameters for tests done at those small gauge lengths of a few millimetres. It was shown that, for sufficiently long fibres, their strength depends mainly on the diameter and failure force; however, for shorter gauge lengths, the effects of misalignment become very significant. The knowledge of uncertainty would be useful in estimating the reliability of the predictions made by composite strength models on the damage and failure behaviour of composite materials and structures. Minimising the influence of critical parameters on fibre strength would help in designing improved single fibre testing systems capable of determining fibre strength more accurately.