Notched behavior of prepreg-based discontinuous carbon fiber/epoxy systems

The elastic behavior and failure response of discontinuous carbon fiber/epoxy laminates produced by compression molding of randomly-oriented preimpregnated unidirectional tape is characterized. Commercial applications for this type of material form already exist, such as Hexcel HexMC®. Complex relationships between unnotched and notched tensile strengths are observed, and show this material to be particularly notch-insensitive. A parametric study on the effect of specimen thickness, width, diameter/width ratio, and hole size yields fundamental information on the behavior of this material.