Meso-scale analysis of the deformability of a non-crimp 3D orthogonal weave E-glass composite reinforcement

In this work, an investigation at the unit cell level of the sheared geometry of a single layer E-glass non-crimp 3D orthogonal woven reinforcement (commercialized under trademark 3WEAVE® by 3Tex Inc.) is performed by x-ray micro computed tomography observations. The objective of this study is to observe and understand the effect of in-plane shear deformation on the composite reinforcement geometry at the mesoscopic scale (i.e. unit cell level). For this purpose m-CT geometrical analyses were carried out on a reference sample at the relaxed state and on specimens which have undergone picture frame shear deformation for different shear angles. Furthermore, the effect of the shear deformation on the textile thickness during compression is measured being this an important knowledge after the forming and molding phases of a composite component production.