Abstract
A pilot study has been completed into the accurate measurement of 3D fibre waviness in high packing fraction, unidirectional, glass fibre reinforced polymer epoxy. It has been shown that the confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) can determine fibre waviness amplitudes,A⩽40 µm andsimultaneously fibre wavelengths, λ⩽4 mm. Knowing the fibre-centre coordinates in 3D with sub-micron precision, the fibre waviness may be characterised in terms of the power spectral densitiesS u andS w orthogonal to the fibre direction (taken to be in they direction) and also in terms of the power spectral densities of fibre slopes,S u′ andS w′. In future studies, these characterisation parameters will enable models linking random fibre waviness to compressive strength to be evaluated.
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Clarke, A.R., Archenhold, G., Davidson, N.C. et al. Determining the power spectral density of the waviness of unidirectional glass fibres in polymer composites. Appl Compos Mater 2, 233–243 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00567194
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00567194