Mechanical behavior of airbag fabrics under quasi-static loading: an experimental evaluation of macro- and meso-scopic properties

Abstract

In this paper the current generation of 350 dtex airbag coated and uncoated fabrics are examined experimentally under a multitude of simple and complex deformations. The geometric dimensions of the fabric architecture and the load–elongation behavior of the yarn constituents are studied. Furthermore, deformational shear behavior of airbag fabrics, which have not previously been investigated, are examined here. The stress–strain behavior of the yarn as well as the fabrics with and without coating are found to be highly nonlinear. Under uniaxial loading, nonlinearities of the fabric occur at lower strains due to crimp of the fabric, whereas under biaxial loading, the nonlinearity occurs at low and intermediate strain levels resulting from a combination of the inherent nonlinear material response of the yarn and geometric changes in the fabric structure. The data generated not only provide the basis for structural analysis of the airbag, but can also be used to develop more sophisticated definitions of the constitutive behavior of the fabric.