Experimental study on the compression properties and failure mechanism of 3D integrated woven spacer composites

•Obtain flat and warp compression properties of 3D integrated woven spacer composite.•The damage and failure mechanism is demonstrated under flat and warp compression.•Analyze the influence of core height on compressive properties and failure modes.

The compressive experiments on the 3D integrated woven spacer composites with different core heights are performed in the flat and warp direction. Macro-fracture morphology and SEM micrographs have been examined to understand the deformation and failure mechanism. The results show that the core height is an important parameter to influence the compressive properties and failure mechanism. For flat compression, the compressive properties decrease with the core height and load–displacement curves exhibit elastic, plasticity plateau and densification stages. For high core height, yet more than one peak load appears. For warp compression, the compressive properties increase greatly with the core height and the curves only have obvious elastic stage. Meanwhile, the failure mechanism is significantly different under the flat and warp compression. For flat compression, core fiber bundles dominate the failure and three typical failure mechanisms have been obtained for different core heights. For warp compression, it is the face sheet rupture and dislocation between the top and bottom face sheets that dominate the failure of the composites.