The effect of braid angle on the flexural performance of structural braided thermoplastic composite beams

Three-point flexural performance of tailor-braided thermoplastic composite beam structures

“…For the purpose of comparison, surfaces of UBr45 and UBr60 beams are also shown. The visible discolouration on beam surfaces was due to exposure of the molten PA6 polymer to ambient air during the moulding process [26]. There was an observable difference in the brownish discolouration of the UBr45 and UBr60 beams, which occurred due to larger air gaps between tows in the UBr45 beams.…”

“…Previously, 420 mm-long uni-braided beams with an outer diameter of 35 mm having braid angles of 45° (UBr45) and 60° (UBr60) were tested in three-point flexure [26]. During the tests, the applied crosshead displacement resulted in two principal deformation modes: global beam flexure and localised crushing.…”

“…In addition to the mechanical performance indices reported in [26], Figure 1 also shows the measured mass values for the two UBr beam types, which are presented for the first time in this work. Comparing the average masses revealed that the relative improvement in mechanical performance of the UBr60 beams was accompanied with a 44% increase in mass as compared to the UBr45 beams.…”

“…The measured thickness distributions are represented through box plots shown in Figure 9. The thickness of the UBr45 and UBr60 beams, reported in [26] are also shown for comparison. The thickness measurements of the two regions of TBrA beam are in reasonable agreement with the corresponding UBr beams.…”

“…Recent work performed by the authors studied the effect of braid angle on three-point flexural performance of uni-braided (UBr) thermoplastic composite beams, i.e. beams with a constant braid angle [26]. Building on this recent work, the authors propose a 'tailor-braiding' approach for a composite braided structure in order to create structurally efficient components offering performance improvement over UBr variants.…”