The Impact of Abrasive Water Jet Cutting on Tensile Behavior of Woven Fabric CFRP

Abstract

In the present work, the quasi-static tensile tests of woven carbon/epoxy (CFRP) laminates used for aeronautic structures were carried out using a tensile testing machine with a high performance. These tests were performed according to different specimen standards ASTM D5766 and ASTM D3039. This study aims to focus on the effect of the cutting process through the abrasive water jet (AWJ) on the tensile strength of carbon CFRP composite material. The laminate was tested with different orientation angles of plies that vary from 0 to 90° giving different composite stacking configurations. On another hand, the effect of stress concentration was verified with testing the specimens through open hole tensile (OHT). Test results show that the tensile behavior represents high strength and stiffness for different stacking configurations. This evaluation confirmed the quasi-isotropic behavior of stacking sequence configurations. However, the composite strength is affected significantly by stress concentration generated on the hole surface.