Tensile and shear behavior of plain weave fabric carbon fiber reinforced polymer at elevated temperatures

Abstract

Plain weave fabric carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) Composites are tested at four different temperature conditions: room temperature, 82°C, 100°C, and 120°C. The variation in their tensile and in-shear properties are studied. The tensile properties seemingly increased when the specimens are tested close to their curing temperature but reduced up to 7.88% with respect to the room temperature conditions, when they are tested close to their glass transition temperature. The in-plane shear strength and the shear modulus decreased significantly, due to the fiber-matrix interaction, at higher temperature. The specimens tested close to the glass transition temperature lost their properties up to 44.36% in in-plane shear strength and 29.26% in shear modulus, with respect to their properties at room temperature. These reductions are predicted by four predictive models and are compared with the experimental data. For predicting the tensile strength at elevated temperature, it is suggested to use modified Gibson or Nadjai model and for the in-plane shear strength, Hawileh model.