Development of tensile specimens with bonded continuous protective layers for the accurate tensile failure strain determination of unidirectional carbon/epoxy composites

Abstract

Carbon fibre/epoxy (CF/EP) composites have been applied successfully in high performance applications such as aerospace, motorsports and recreation etc. for decades primarily for their outstanding mechanical properties paired with low density. Nowadays, weight reduction e.g. in the passenger car sector is inevitable to enable progress towards (i) reducing the emissions of traditional combustion engine powered vehicles and (ii) accommodating the heavy energy storage devices of electric motor powered ones. The aerospace sector constantly focuses on accurate modelling and design of structures with the scope of weight saving for fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. All these efforts require accurate material properties as input parameters for design and simulations.