The role of bias extension testing to guide forming of Non-Crimp Fabrics

Claudia Jimenez Martin, Vincent Karel Maes, Turlough McMahon, James Kratz*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
105 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The increased production rate targets of the aerospace industry has driven the development of dry fibre processes and biaxial Non-Crimp Fabrics (NCFs). Understanding the forming behaviour of NCFs at scale is key to achieving high quality parts at high rates. The bias extension test is commonly used to characterise the shear behaviour of dry fabrics, for example as input to drape forming models. In industry, it is still often used as a standalone material selection tool as part of initial material selection processes. It is however well known that the boundary conditions of this test are often not representative of full-scale forming trials. A direct comparison with wrinkles observed during a forming experiment is carried out to show that the bias extension test overpredicts wrinkle height. Overall, the bias extension is considered unsuitable on its own for predicting preform quality in an NCF forming process where excess length is generated due to part geometry. If the bias extension is to be used as an NCF material ranking tool, wrinkle height data should be captured alongside force shear data, as shown in this study.
Original languageEnglish
Article number825830
Number of pages13
JournalFrontiers in Materials
Volume9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Composites Manufacture (EP/L015102/1) and the Airbus Wing of Tomorrow programme, part funded by the UK’s Aerospace Technology Institute. The authors would like to thank the National Composites Centre in Bristol for test data collection, and Airbus colleagues Jon Wright, Jon Price, and Dominic Bloom for many interesting discussions on composite forming.

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Composites Manufacture (EP/L015102/1) and the Airbus Wing of Tomorrow programme, part funded by the UK?s Aerospace Technology Institute. The authors would like to thank the National Composites Centre in Bristol for test data collection, and Airbus colleagues Jon Wright, Jon Price, and Dominic Bloom for many interesting discussions on composite forming.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Jimenez Martin, Maes, McMahon and Kratz.

Keywords

  • composite material
  • forming
  • non-crimp carbon fabric
  • wrinkle
  • bias extension test

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