New designs of unidirectionally arrayed chopped strands by introducing discontinuous angled slits into prepreg

• DOI: 10.1016/j.compositesa.2012.09.009
• Publication Date: 2012-10-09T03:01:26Z
• Authors: Hang Li; Wen-Xue Wang; Yoshihiro Takao; Terutake Matsubara
• Keywords: 0205 materials engineering; 02 engineering and technology

New designs of unidirectionally arrayed chopped strands (UACSs) are proposed to improve existing UACS laminates with continuous angled slits by introducing discontinuous angled slits into a unidirectional prepreg. Two slit patterns of staggered angled slits and bi-angled slits are designed. A paper cutter is employed to introduce slits into the prepreg. Quasi-isotropic UACS laminates with new slit patterns and existing continuous angled slits together with the conventional laminate without slits are fabricated for tensile tests. Hybrid laminates [90/0/90] with two unidirectional glass-fiber/epoxy plies and one UACS ply are fabricated for flowability tests. Experimental results reveal that newly designed UACS laminates possess higher strength and better flowability than existing UACS laminate.