Study on interlaminar shear and damage behavior of carbon fiber composites with short fiber interleaves: 1. The comparative test

A special test setup was designed and used in compression shear test of unidirectional carbon fiber composites to study the effect of short fiber interleaves (SFIs) on the interlaminar shear behavior. The comparative tests for two kinds of double-notched compression specimens, with and without SFIs, were carried out to determine the interlaminar shear strength and modulus (ILSS and ILSM) and to examine the failure characteristics. To determine ILSM of the specimens with SFIs an inversion analysis method was proposed based on comparing compression displacement of specimens with and without SFIs. The experimental results show that SFIs makes ILSS decreasing due to lower interface strength, and the complex damage process of SFIs leads to a considerable increase of interlaminar shear compliance.