Effect of Different Fiber Orientation

Made By:
Kirtika Gupta
MCI
 Effect of Fiber Orientation Direction on the Material Properties
 Loading direction and angle between fibers govern the mechanical properties of the
bond.
 By alternating the fiber direction, the inner load path within the material can be
adjusted.
Conti…
 In repair of pipelines, where internal pressure creates primarily hoop stresses, the designer
can chose to arrange a larger portion of the fibers in this the hoop direction.
 It has been found that the ratio between pultruded GFRP strengths at 0° and 90° is around
70%.

Schematic representation of the different mechanical experiments, where stretching was applied
along different angles with respect to the orientation of the fiber
Conti…
For materials with small off-axis
angles (e.g. 0°, 10° and 15°), the
majority of the load is taken along the
fiber orientations.

In contrast, for high off-axis angles

(higher than 30°), GFRP composite
presents similar behavior to that of just
the resin (matrix)—the fiber has little
effect.

Therefore, due to the higher strength

of the fiber, a considerably higher
strength or stiffness of GFRP
composite can be achieved in small off-
axis fiber orientations compared with
high off-axis loading directions.
 Investigation of fiber orientation on Tensile Strength and Elastic
Modulus of pultruded GFRP under quasi-static tension loading

• GFRP coupons were tested under tensile loading in a wide range of

fiber orientations.
• Based on the experimental results, a generalized Hankinson’s formula
is proposed and used as a basis to evaluate the properties of GFRP.

where, σα is the off-axis strength; σ0 is the longitudinal strength; σ90 is the transverse strength; n is an
empirical coefficient; and the angle α indicates the fiber orientation relative to the loading direction.
Experimental:

• Rectangular coupons were cut from three

pultruded GFRP flat plates via waterjet
cutting to check plate variations.
• The tested off-axis angles, α, were: 0°,
10°, 20°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75° and 90°.
• The sample dimensions were same for
all tests (250 mm × 25 mm × 6.21 mm).
• Axial tension load was applied in a
displacement control mode with a rate of
2 mm/min.
• The exponential coefficient, n, in the
generalized Hankinson’s formula was
then estimated as 1.284 ± 0.045.
Test sample and experimental apparatus
GFRP internal structure and sample geometry (units: mm)
Results:

 Material strength significantly decreases with increasing fiber orientation.

 Comparing the tensile strength of samples with smaller off-axis angles (< 45°), a
clear strength reduction is observed.

 The longitudinal samples have the highest tensile strength, almost three times higher
than the strength of the 30° specimen.

 Small reduction (<9%) in tensile strength when orientation increases beyond 45°.

 Overall, there is a 73% reduction of average tensile strength between the

longitudinal (0°) and transverse (90°) samples and the elastic modulus decreases
significantly from 0° to 90°, presenting a 54% reduction.
Conti…

 A higher E-modulus means a stiffer, more brittle, less deformable. Conversely, an

elastic material has a lower E-modulus and so it is less brittle.

 Between orientation angles of 0 to ± 45° the composites become softer, easier to

deform and so the elongation becomes larger.

 For fiber orientation angles larger than ± 45° the elongation of the composite
decreases.

 The reinforcement effect decreases with increasing orientation angle as both UTS
and E-modulus decrease. At the same time the elongation at UTS increases with
orientation angle up to 45° due to the less reinforcement effect of the fibers and
hence, stronger contribution of the matrix.

 As the orientation angle exceeds 45°, the delamination becomes dominant and lead
to further decreased UTS and E-modulus, but also significant lower elongation at
UTS, compared to composites with 45° fiber orientation.
Typical stress-strain curves of pultruded GFRP at different fiber orientations
Conti…

Plot of pultruded GFRP tensile

strength showing averages
of three coupons for three plates and
overall average

Off-axis angle (θ) 0° 10° 20° 30° 45° 60° 75° 90°

Plate 1 360 244.9 164.2 138.6 115.4 104.1 90.5 92

Plate 2 341.1 286.1 155.9 131.9 111.7 99.2 97.5 93.2
Plate 3 328 254.6 177.1 138.1 116.3 101.5 99.2 93.2
Average 341.5 257.6 166.9 136 112 101.6 95.9 92.8
Table 1: An average tensile strengths (MPa) results of three coupons for each plate of pultruded GFRP
Conti…

Off-axis elastic modulus of

pultruded GFRP with
various Hankinson
coefficients.

Off-axis angle(θ) 0° 10° 20° 30° 45° 60° 75° 90°

Plate 1 23.7 19.8 16.4 14.2 10.9 11 10.8 10.6

Plate 2 22.6 21 16.4 12.9 11.2 10.5 10.8 10.3
Plate 3 22.5 20.6 17.2 13.3 11.1 10.6 10.3 10.5
Eθ (GPa) 23 20.5 16.7 13.5 11.1 10.7 10.6 10.5
Table 2: Average values of elastic modulus of pultruded GFRP (each result is the average
of nine coupons)
 Fiber Geometry

The three basic arrangements are unidirectional, bidirectional and multidirectional

The way the individual strands are positioned determines both direction and level
of achievable strength
There are generally three types of fabric:-

1. Random Oriented
2. Aligned Fiber Woven Material
3. Aligned Fiber Non Woven

And the style of material used for structural repair are:-

1. Woven Roving
2. Unidirectional Roving
3. Chopped Strand Mat

Roving GFRP Woven Roving GFRP

Chopped Strand Mat –

• Non-woven material, contains randomly distributed fibers.

• Consist of Glass fibers and held together by styrene binder.
• Available in lengths from 38mm to 68.5mm.
• Only compatible with polyester or vinyl ester resins.
• Used for laminate built-up and repair work.

Woven Roving –

• Interweaved by E glass or ECR glass fiber roving.

• Inexpensive and fast way to laminate large, flat areas.
• Provide high strength in large structural components.
Unidirectional Roving –

• Offers high strength in wrap (longitudinal) direction only

and held straight with very light transverse threads.
• Offer good resin permeability.
 Comparison of E-glass Fiber Reinforced Composites With Different Yarn
Processing

Random Fiber 0° / 90° Knitted

0° / 90° Woven
Property Unit Chopped Bidirectional
Roving
Strand Mat Roving
Tensile Strength MPa 105 250 320
Tensile Modulus GPa 8.1 13.3 16.2
Flexural Strength MPa 188 400 511
Flexural Modulus GPa 6.8 12.1 15.2
Inter-laminar Shear
MPa 21.5 25 26.5
Strength
Glass Content % 31 50 50

Reference: https://research.monash.edu/files/259206291/254185594_oa.pdf
THANK YOU