Evolution of Strain Fields During Tensile Tests of Random Discontinuous Carbon/Epoxy Composites

Compression molding is a closed mold process, the most common choice for high-volume composite parts. This work investigates a material system composed of randomly oriented discontinuous carbon fiber prepreg strands to be consolidated by compression molding. Previous studies by the authors have shown that this material exhibit a strong variability in elastic modulus and in mechanical strength. Here the full-field DIC technique shows the strong strain variation both across the specimen surface and thickness-wise due to the highly non-homogenous structure of the material during the tensile test up to rupture.