The material characterization is performed using, according to ASTM Standards. Tension, compression and shear samples are fabricated and placed between two aluminum plates for curing, giving a more uniform thickness distribution along their length. The entire setup is closed with a vacuum bag and heated using an oven up to 160 °C for 8 hours.

A summary of the calculated material properties are presented in Table 1, where the E_i^j is the elastic modulus along the fiber direction (i = 1) or matrix direction (i = 2) in tension (j = T) or compression (j = C). G₁₂ is the shear modulus and v₁₂ is the Poisson ratio. S_i^j is the maximum strength along the fiber direction (i = 1) or matrix direction (i = 2) in tension (j = T) or compression (j = C). S₁₂ is the shear strength. t is the ply thickness.

The material properties are calculated using three different methodologies according to the system used to perform the deformation measurements: Strain gages, digital image correlation (DIC) or mechanical extensometer. The experimental setup for each case is presented in the following sections.

Table 1. Material properties of UD prepregUnipreg 100 g/m².

Methodologies

All the tests parameters needed to characterize the mechanical properties of the material are based on the ASTM standards. The type o test, samples and general information are presented on Table 2.

Table 2. Tests matrix to characterize the material properties.