An experimental investigation for the temperature effect on the bending properties of multiaxial warp-knitted composite

An experimental study of bending properties of composites reinforced with triaxial and quadaxial warp-knitted glass fabrics was carried out in the 0°, 45°, and 90° directions at −30°C, 0°C, 20°C, and 40°C, respectively. The relationships between the stress–strain curves, bending strength, bending modulus, and temperature were obtained. The failure mechanisms at different temperatures were also analyzed based on the fracture morphologies and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. The results indicated that the bending properties decrease slightly with the increase in temperature from −30°C to 20°C and decrease dramatically from 20°C to 40°C. The ultimate bending strength of triaxial and quadaxial warp-knitted composites decreases approximately 31.34% and 34.29%, respectively. In particular, the relationships between bending strength and temperature were also obtained by nonlinear fitting with the experimental data, which could be used to predict the bending behavior at different temperatures.