The application of braided composite materials in the automotive industry requires an in-depth understanding of the mechanical properties. To date, the intralaminar fracture toughness of braided composite materials, typically used for describing post-failure behavior, has not been well-characterized experimentally. In this paper, a modified compact tension test, utilizing a relatively large specimen and a metallic loading frame, is used to measure the transverse intralaminar fracture toughness of a tri-axial braided composite. During testing, a relatively long fracture process zone ahead of the crack tip was observed. Crack propagation could be correlated to the failure of individual unit cells, which required failure of bias-yarns. The transverse interlaminar fracture toughness was found to be two orders of magnitude higher than the reference interlaminar fracture toughness of the same material. This is due to the fact, that intralaminar crack propagation requires breaking of fibers, which is not the case for interlaminar testing.
Keywords: braid; composite material; fracture toughness; material characterization; mechanical properties.