A New Static Compression Fixture for Advanced Composite Materials

Abstract

Abstract Advanced composite compressive data are generally less abundant than the corresponding tension data for the same material. There are two reasons for this paucity of data: (1) the difficulties associated with compressive testing of specimens prepared from thin sheets of advanced composite materials such as end splitting, buckling of the specimens, and load alignment problems; and (2) the expense associated with generally accepted workable but complex specimens such as the sandwich beam compressive specimen. This paper describes a method of compression testing of specimens which alleviates the problem areas described above. In addition, several associated areas which are adjunct to the method such as elevated temperature testing are also reported and detailed. Basically, a fixture with linear, nearly frictionless bearings is employed with a straight-sided tab-ended specimen to determine compressive strength, yield, ultimate strain, modulus, and Poisson's ratio. A comparison is made with the test results of other methods. Finally, recommendations for additional improvement on this fixture are set forth.