Bending Properties of the Multilayer-Connected Biaxial Weft Knitted Fabrics-Reinforced Composites Made With Carbon Fibers

This article presents an experimental study of bending properties of multilayer-connected biaxial weft knitted (MBWK) fabrics-reinforced composites made with carbon fibers. Three types of composites are used in bending test, which are three-layer-connected biaxial weft knitted fabric-reinforced composite, four-layer-connected biaxial weft knitted fabric-reinforced composite and five-layer-connected biaxial weft knitted fabric-reinforced composite. Two-way ANOVA analyzing method was used to deal with whether the carbon fiber volume fraction and the cutting direction have significant effect on the bending strength of the MBWK fabrics-reinforced composites. Failure analysis is also available by means of samples debris examination to identify the failure mode. (C) 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers