Pseudo-ductility and reduced notch sensitivity in multi-directional all-carbon/epoxy thin-ply hybrid composites

Un-notched and notched tensile response and damage accumulation of quasi-isotropic carbon/epoxy hybrid laminates made of ultra-high modulus and intermediate modulus carbon fibre/epoxy thin-ply prepregs were studied. It was confirmed that the ply fragmentation demonstrated previously in unidirectional hybrids as a successful pseudo-ductility mechanism can be transferred to multi-directional laminates. Furthermore, reduced notch sensitivity was demonstrated in quasi-isotropic specimens for both open holes and sharp notches as a result of local ply fragmentation around the notch.