Shear Behavior of a Non-crimp 3D Orthogonal Weave E-Glass Composite Reinforcement

In this work, the deformability of a single layer E-glass non-crimp 3D orthogonal woven reinforcement is experimentally investigated. The attention is mainly dedicated to the behavior during shear loading because this is considered the primary deformation mechanism in the reinforcement shaping. The mechanism occurring when the material is subjected to in-plane shear is studied by two different tests: bias and picture frame. The nonlinear response of the material from both tests are compared in term of macroscopic shear force vs. shear strain. The shear deformation is observed and measured at the macroscale, to have the initiation of wrinkling phenomenon, as well as at the unit cell level to study sliding and rotation of the tows. For these purposes, the tests are assisted by digital image correlation (DIC) technique.