Ten-deg off-axis test for shear properties in fiber composites

A combined theoretical and experimental investigation was conducted to assess the suitability of the 10-deg off-axis tensile-test specimen for the intralaminar-shear characterization of unidirectional composites. Composite mechanics, a combined-stress failure criterion and a finiteelement analysis were used to determine theoretically the stress-strain variation across the specimen width and the relative stress and strain magnitudes at the 10-deg plane. Strain gages were used to measure the strain variation across the specimen width at specimen midlength and near the end tabs. Specimens from Mod-I/epoxy. T-300/epoxy, and S-glass/epoxy were used in the experimental program. It was found that the 10-deg off-axis tensile-test specimen is suitable for intralaminar-shear characterization and it, is recommended that it should be considered as a possible standard test specimen for such a characterization.