Performance evaluation of VARTM manufactured textile composites for the aerospace and defense applications

High specific modulus and high specific strength are the most required characteristics of the materials in the aerospace and defense structural applications. Fibers in textile form exhibit good out-of-plane properties, and good fatigue and impact resistance. Additionally, they have better dimensional stability and conformability. The variety of fabric architectures includes weaves, knits, and braids. Vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) is a low-cost closed molding process with the capability of producing complex parts. Before VARTM manufactured textile composites can be confidently used in the primary structures, it is necessary to understand the damage mechanisms under various loadings especially under impact and fatigue. This paper addresses tension-compression fatigue performance of twill woven S2 glass/vinyl ester and plain-woven S2 glass/epoxy thick composites for composite armored vehicle (CAV) applications. The stitch-bonded E glass/vinyl ester and woven roving E glass/vinyl ester composites were investigated for naval applications under low velocity impact loadings. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.