Study on tensile properties of carbon fiber/epoxy laminated woven composites with ply splicing

Ply splicing design is a crucial technology to realize the precise manufacturing of woven composite components with various complex shapes. This paper reports two ways of splicing, inter-layer splicing, and in-plane splicing. Two factors affecting the tensile properties of carbon fiber/epoxy laminated woven composites with ply splicing are discussed, including the number of continuous fabric layers on the surface and in-plane splicing spacing. The deterioration of the composites induced during the tensile test is characterized by acoustic emission and digital image correlation. The results reveal that the damage of the laminated woven composites with ply splicing occurs mainly at the butt jointing location and leads to fracture failure. Ply splicing has little effect on the tensile modulus of the composites. The tensile modulus is slightly reduced between 2% and 5%. But ply splicing has a more significant effect on its tensile strength. The total number of continuous fabric layers at the splice position approximately determines the strength retention ratio. The more the number of continuous fabric layers on the surface are, the higher the tensile strength of the composites. When the number of continuous fabric layers on the surface is three layers, the tensile strength retention ratio reaches 69%. The larger the splicing spacing is, the better the tensile properties of the composites. When the splicing spacing is increased to 30 mm, the tensile strength retention ratio reaches 77%.