Interfacial, tensile and bending properties of a novel wide-angle woven fabric/EPDM composite

Off-axis woven flexible composites have attracted attention because of its excellent deformability. However, the current traditional method is to cut orthogonal woven fabrics into the diagonal lines, in which the central axis of above-mentioned diagonal fabrics is consistent with the length of synchronous belt. Obviously, this technique is inefficient and costly. This paper presents the interfacial, tensile and bending properties of a novel wide-angle woven fabric/ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) composites. 60 degrees/120 degrees wide-angle fabrics are prepared by an improved rapier loom. For comparisons, 0 degrees/90 degrees orthogonal fabrics are also braided. Then these two kinds of the fabric/EPDM composites are fabricated by a hot pressing mechanism. Subsequently, the interface, tensile and bending tests are carried out. The mechanical behaviors and failure mode are analyzed. The results show that the tensile strength and modulus of 60 degrees/120 degrees wide-angle fabric/EPDM composites are 11.11 MPa and 61.43 MPa, which are 22% (9.14 MPa) and 65% (37.04 MPa) higher than those of 0 degrees/90 degrees orthogonal fabric/EPDM composites, respectively. Moreover, the bending strength (5.86 MPa) of 0 degrees/90 degrees orthogonal fabric/EPDM composites is similar to that (6.62 MPa) of 60 degrees/120 degrees wide-angle fabric/EPDM composites, whereas the bending modulus (206.31 MPa) of the former is 30% lower than that (293.83 MPa) of the later ones.

Automated summary

This paper presents the interfacial, tensile, and bending properties of a novel wide-angle woven fabric/ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) composites. The results show that the wide-angle fabric/EPDM composites have higher tensile strength and modulus compared to the orthogonal fabric/EPDM composites. The bending strength of the two composites is similar, but the bending modulus of the wide-angle fabric/EPDM composites is significantly higher.