Folding of woven composite structures

This paper investigates one-ply and two-ply laminates made from woven T300 carbon fibre and Hexcel 913 and 914 epoxy resins. These laminates are of interest for deployable structures applications. The maximum surface bending strain, measured by means of a large-displacement buckling test, is found to be 2.8% for one-ply and 1.9-2.2% for two-ply specimens in the direction of the fibres. In tension, the maximum strains in the fibre direction are 0.9-1.0% and in compression 0.4-1.0%.