Flexural behavior of composite material under three point bending load

Abstract

The behavior of composite materials under tensile and bending loading differs, and material designs optimized for tensile loading may not be suitable for applications subjected to bending loading. In this study, the bending behavior of two different composite materials, namely glass and carbon fiber-reinforced composites, was analyzed under a three-point bending load. The output from the analysis of these two materials was compared, revealing that, in addition to longitudinal direction strength, transverse and through-thickness directional strength, as well as shear strength in all planes of the composite, are essential to minimize deformations, normal stress, and shear stress. In the study, under the same loading and boundary conditions, the carbon epoxy composite exhibited 84% more deformation than the FR-4 composite at the maximum load considered for the study. Furthermore, the strength of the FR-4 composite in the loading direction was 2.4 times greater than that of the carbon epoxy composite. The present work is used for the effective design of the composite material under bending loading.

Keywords

• three-point bending loading
• glass fiber reinforced composite
• carbon fiber reinforced composite
• equivalent stress
• normal stress