Analytical and experimental studies of graphite-epoxy and boron-epoxy angle ply laminates in shear

Abstract

The results of a comparison study between a test program on the inelastic response under inplane shear over a wide range of graphite-epoxy and boron-epoxy angle-ply laminates are reported. This investigation was aimed at evaluating the applicability and adequacy of these analyses to predict satisfactorily the responses of angle-ply laminates. It was observed that these analytical tools are inadequate for this purpose as they fail to predict with sufficient confidence the shape of response and in particular the strength values associated with a given laminate configuration. Consequently, they do not provide the sought-after information about failure mechanisms which trigger failure of a particular designed laminate