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The effect of geometric and manufacturing parameters on filament wound

composites split disk test results (Pre-review version)

Conference Paper · October 2017

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The effect of geometric and manufacturing parameters on filament
wound composites split disk test results
A.Z. Papadakis, J.G. Themelakis, N.G. Tsouvalis
National Technical University of Athens, Attica, Greece

ABSTRACT: In the present study, a series of material characterization tests is carried out on several car-
bon/epoxy filament wound ring shaped specimens. For the implementation of the tests a slightly modified and
improved version of the split-disk test method (ASTM D2290) is used. The modifications of the standardized
test method presented in this work have been applied in order to make it possible to measure not only the ap-
parent hoop strength of the specimens but also the Young’s modulus in the hoop direction. The experimental
procedure consists of testing specimens with various geometric characteristics in order to determine the effect
of the specimens’ geometry on the test results. Additionally, several manufacturing parameters of the filament
winding process are taken into account for the evaluation of their effect on the product quality, by comparing
the mechanical properties of the specimens.

1 INTRODUCTION (Figure 1). This specific testing procedure has led to

the publication of the ASTM D2290 standard.
Filament winding is a fabrication process for manu- The aforementioned split disk test method for fil-
facturing mainly cylindrical parts using fibrous ament wound composite materials characterization
composite materials. Due to the curved shape of the has been extensively used through all these years
filament wound products, the usual standards for the since it is easily applied, no special equipment is
measurement of mechanical properties that refer to needed and the extraction of the results is quick and
composite flat specimens are not applicable to fila- suitable for comparison between similar specimens.
ment wound composite cylindrical specimens. The However, there are some major issues and disad-
first attempt to overcome these issues and to design vantages that restrict the method only to comparative
testing procedures for the reliable measurement of studies, since the only reliably extracted result from
the mechanical properties of filament wound curved this test is the strength of the ring shaped specimens.
shape specimens was made by the US Naval Ord-
nance Laboratory - NOL (Kinna, 1964). NOL sug-
gested several testing procedures for the determina-
tion of tensile, shear, flexural and compressive
properties of filament wound specimens with curved
shape, however only two of these gained general ac-
ceptance and were later standardized by ASTM.
More specifically, the first procedure refers to the
determination of the interlaminar shear strength with
the use of arc shaped short beam specimens with
small radius of curvature that are subjected to 3
point bending test. Based on the aforementioned
procedure, the ASTM D2344 standard has been pub-
lished. As far as the second procedure suggested by
NOL is concerned, a split-disc tensile test method
was developed for the determination of the apparent
hoop tensile strength of filament wound ring shaped
specimens. The method consists of applying an in-
ternal tensile pressure loading until failure of the
Figure 1. General view of the split disk test fixture as it was
specimen with the use of a split disc testing fixture suggested by NOL (Kinna, 1964)
It is recognized that, due to bending moments at the
plane of separation of the test fixture disc halves, the
distribution of the developed stresses deviates from
uniformity and a true tensile strength result is not
obtained. Consequently, for the case of hoop
wounded specimens, the calculated magnitude is re-
ferred to as “apparent” hoop strength. In addition,
several researchers such as Jones et al. (1996) and
Yoon et al. (1997) have repeatedly depicted that the
development of friction between the disks and the
composite specimen is inevitable, resulting to false
estimations and calculations concerning the material
properties. In order to overcome the above men-
tioned issues, a lot of research has been conducted
during the last 20 years, leading to modifications of
the split disk method or suggestions for new testing
procedures for the filament wound composite mate-
rial characterization. Specifically, Jones et al. (1996)
suggested that in order to avoid the development of
friction and local bending moment, the loading on
the inner surface of the rings could be applied by
hydraulic means. However, since this method is very
complicated and needs special equipment, it was
proposed that the use of small roller needles placed
in the interface between the disks and the specimen
could be an efficient solution. In this way, the devel-
oped friction between the two surfaces decreases and
an improvement in the stress through thickness uni-
formity also occurs. According to Yoon et al.
(1997), the reduction of the friction could be
achieved by applying graphite powder on the surfac-
es of the split disks and the specimens that are in
contact. The same authors proved that due to fric-
tion, the loading and unloading load-displacement
curves of a split disk test create a hysteresis loop.
This observation indicates that friction, and especial-
ly the different sign of it during the loading and un-
loading procedure, affects the slope of the force-
displacement curves and as a result, the stiffness of
the specimens. Extended finite element analysis
showed that the mean slope of the two developed
curves is almost equal to the slope of the curve that
corresponds to the case with no friction between the
two bodies. In this way, the reliability of the meas-
urement of the modulus of elasticity increases as it
becomes independent of friction. Furthermore, a
newer approach has been proposed by Walsh & Ad-
ams (2008) who designed and applied a quadrant
ring test fixture which combines four quadrant disc
sectors for the application of the tensile loading, in-
stead of two half disc sectors. This modification of
the initial test method has been made in order to de-
crease both the friction between the fixture and the
specimen and the development of local bending. Fi-
nally, Cain et al. (2009) presented a novel fixture in
order to address the common issues of the split disk
test method. They use PTFE seals and hydraulic flu-
id to apply uniform pressure on the inner surface of
the rings.
Similarly to other manufacturing techniques, fil-
ament winding method is capable of producing
structures with several different geometric character-
istics. In addition, various manufacturing parameters
can add specific attributes to the produced struc-
tures. Thus, it is very important to determine wheth-
er and in which way the results of the split disk test
method are affected by the various geometric and
manufacturing parameters of the specimens. For this
purpose, a series of carbon/epoxy ring shaped spec-
imens are subjected to tensile loading with the use of
a split disk test fixture in the present study. Several
geometric characteristics are examined, such us the
inner diameter of the specimens together with their
thickness and width. Additionally, the importance of
two major manufacturing parameters is studied, i.e.
the value of the fibers tensioning force during the
winding process and the effect of the number of
tows of each winding.
Regarding the testing procedure per se, improve-
ments and slight modifications of the split disk test
method are applied in the present work, in order to
increase its reliability and make it suitable not only
for the determination of the apparent hoop strength
of ring shaped specimens but also for the measure-
ment of the Young’s modulus in the hoop direction.
2 MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION TESTING
2.1 Test fixtures
Three split disk fixtures were used for the tests of
the present study, suitable for testing ring shaped
specimens with inner diameter of 100, 150 and 200
mm, respectively (Figure 2).
As it has already been explained, local bending
occurs at the unsupported part of the ring in-between
the two fixture half split disc sectors, causing the
through thickness stress distribution to deviate from
uniformity. The phenomenon is shown in Figure 3,
while general views of the fixture plugged on the
testing machine with a specimen mounted on it are
presented in Figure 4. It is clear that, the larger the
gap between the two half disks, the more intense the
local bending moment effects. As a result, it has
Figure 2. General views of the split disk fixtures
Figure 3. Description of the local bending phenomenon that
takes place on the unsupported part of the ring during loading
Figure 4. General views of the 100 mm diameter split disk fix-
ture with the ring mounted on it
been decided to set the gap between the two disks
equal to 5 mm in all fixtures. The small value of this
dimension has been applied in order to minimize the
effect of the local bending.
2.2 Specimens
The specimens tested in the present study have been
manufactured with the filament winding method.
They are all made from the same material (car-
bon/epoxy) and the winding in all cases is in the
hoop direction. The specimens were categorized ac-
cording to the geometric and manufacturing charac-
teristics in 10 separate batches. Each batch consists
of 6 nominally identical ring specimens, leading to
the testing of 60 specimens in total. General views
of the specimens are presented in Figures 5 and 6.
2.2.1 Materials
12K T700S Torayca carbon fibers have been used
for all specimens presented in this study. As far as
the resin is concerned, a three part epoxy resin sys-
tem has been applied, consisting of Voraforce TW
100 Epoxy Resin, Voraforce TW 150 hardener and
Voraforce TC 3000 catalyst.
2.2.2 Geometric characteristics
Several combinations of dimensions have been
examined in the present study in order to investigate
the effect of the geometric characteristics on the re-
sults of the split disk test. More specifically, the ef-
Figure 5. General view of the specimens, categorized in batch-
es according to geometric and manufacturing characteristics
Figure 6. General view of specimens of 100, 150 and 200 mm
inner diameter
fect of the diameter is studied by testing specimens
with inner diameter of 100, 150 and 200 mm. The
width and thickness of all these batches of speci-
mens is the same and equal to 10 mm and 2 mm, re-
spectively. In addition, in order to investigate the ef-
fect of the alteration of width and thickness for
constant diameter, one more batch of specimens has
been produced for the case of inner diameter of 150
mm, with width equal to 6.35 mm and thickness
equal to 1.52 mm. It is worth noting that the last di-
mensions are the ones proposed by the NOL proce-
dure.
2.2.3 Manufacturing parameters
Another significant issue which was taken into
account is the manufacturing process and its parame-
ters, which potentially affect the quality of the pro-
duced specimens and therefore, the results of the
present tests. Two of the most important manufac-
turing parameters in the filament winding method
are examined in the present work. The first one is
the tensioning force that is applied on the fibers dur-
ing the winding process. In addition, the number of
fiber tows that are simultaneously used while the
winding is taking place is also investigated. Con-
cerning the last parameter, it is of high importance
during hoop winding as it determines the maximum
possible winding angle with respect to the cylinder’s
axis in order to avoid overlapping between sequen-
tial windings. As a result, the structural response of
the products can be significantly affected. By in-
creasing the number of tows, the bandwidth of the
filament also increases and, as a result, the maxi-
mum possible hoop winding angle decreases. In oth-
er words, large filament bandwidth, which is desira-
ble since it accelerates production, constitutes at the
same time an obstacle in obtaining winding angles
near 90ο. In the case of 1 tow, the winding angle can
reach values even higher than 89ο, depending on the
cylinder diameter.
In the present study three different tensioning
force cases are studied, namely 8, 25 and 45 N. As
far as the number of tows is concerned, specimens
winded with only 1 tow are compared to specimens
winded with 8 tows, with all other characteristics
remaining identical.
2.2.4 Nomenclature
The specimens’ nomenclature used provides all
geometric and manufacturing details. All the speci-
mens’ names start with the letter “C” which refers to
the carbon material. Subsequently, three numbers
follow, that correspond to the dimensions in mm of
the inner diameter, the width and the thickness, re-
spectively. The next part of the name consists of the
information about the tensioning force, given with
the letter “F” and followed by the force value in N.
Finally, the number of tows is described with the let-
ter “T” which is followed by the respective number.
“C-100-10-2-F25-T8” is a typical example of a spec-
imen’s name and describes a ring with 100 mm inner
diameter, 10 mm width and 2 mm thickness, which
has been manufactured by applying a tensioning
force of 25 N and 8 tows simultaneously for each
winding.
2.3 Test set-up and procedure
The testing procedure has been carried out with the
use of an MTS hydraulic testing machine with max-
imum loading capacity of 250 kN. All tests were
displacement controlled with a rate of 1 mm/min.
Before every test, the inner surface of the rings is
covered with grease in order to minimize the friction
effects. A small magnitude preloading - unloading of
the rings is initially applied in order to improve the
ring’s fitting on the fixture. This phase of the testing
procedure is not presented here since it has no im-
pact on the results and is only carried out for practi-
cal reasons.
During the tests, the reaction force of the hydrau-
lic machine and the actuator displacement were
measured. In addition, the circumferential strains
developed on the outer surface of the rings were
measured with the use of strain gages. Previous re-
lated work (Papadakis & Tsouvalis, 2016) has
shown that hoop strain measurements are independ-
ent of their position, as long as they are not taken at
the unsupported part of the rings in-between the two
half disc sectors. As a result, in the present study, the
strains have been measured by only one strain gage
of 5 mm gage length which was installed on the out-
er surface of the rings, at 45o position with respect to
the loading axis. All the aforementioned magnitudes
have been measured with a sampling frequency of
10 Hz.
In order to extract information not only about the
apparent hoop strength of the specimens but also
about their Young’s modulus, the procedure that is
proposed by Yoon et al. (1997) is adopted in this
study. As it is mentioned in the introduction of the
present paper, Yoon et al. suggest that in order to
exclude the effect of friction from the extracted re-
sults of the tests, the Young’s modulus should be
calculated as the average value of the modulus de-
riving from loading the specimen up to a certain
strain level and that deriving from the respective un-
loading phase. For this purpose, the present testing
procedure consists of an initial displacement con-
trolled loading until a certain strain level, a subse-
quent unloading to the zero loading state and a final
new loading until failure. The stress developed in the
circumferential direction is calculated according to
ASTM D2290 with Equation 1 below, where Pb
stands for the force that is measured by the testing
machine whereas Am stands for the specimens’ cross
section.
Pb
σ (1)
2 Am
For both the loading and the unloading procedure,
the Young’s modulus is calculated according to the
ASTM D3039 standard that refers to the material
characterization of flat composite specimens under
tension. According to this standard, the Young’s
modulus should be considered equal to the slope of
the stress-strain curve part between 1000-3000 mi-
crostrains (με), as long as the strain to failure of the
specimen is higher than 6000 με. In the present case,
prior experience (Papadakis & Tsouvalis, 2016) has
shown that the strain to failure of similar specimens
is significantly higher than this threshold. As a re-
sult, the first loading-unloading phase of the testing
procedure is controlled automatically by setting a
displacement limit which corresponds to a strain
level somewhat higher than 3000 με.
Stress-strain curves are plotted for the whole pro-
cedure that is carried out for every specimen. A typ-
ical stress-strain curve deriving from this study’s
tests is presented in Figure 7, whereas Figure 8 pro-
vides a closer look to the hysteresis loop that is cre-
ated by the loading and unloading of the specimen.
The fact that, as shown in Figure 7, the curve corre-
sponding to the final loading to failure coincides
with the curve of the first loading up to approx. 4000
με indicates that, despite the initial pre-loading of
the specimen, this remains in the linear area and has
not been damaged at all during the procedure for the
 Table 1. Effect of diameter for 10 mm width, 2 mm thickness,
8 N tensioning force and 1 tow
σu CV EH CV Wf
Specimen
MPa GPa
C_100_10_2_F8_T1 2392 4.5% 150.32 2.1% 77.3%
C_150_10_2_F8_T1 2453 4.5% 147.81 1.6% 84.7%
C_200_10_2_F8_T1 2662 4.2% 155.09 2.0% 82.3%

Table 2. Effect of diameter for 10 mm width, 2 mm thickness,

8 N tensioning force and 8 tows
Figure 7. Stress-strain curve of “C-100-10-2-F8-T1” specimen σu CV EH CV Wf
Specimen
MPa GPa
C_100_10_2_F8_T8 1485 3.9% 132.65 3.4% 82.0%
C_200_10_2_F8_T8 1629 5.8% 131.13 2.6% 79.3%

Table 3. Effect of thickness and width for specimens with inner

diameter 150 mm, 8 N tensioning force and 1 tow
σu CV EH CV Wf
Specimen
MPa GPa
C_150_10_2_F8_T1 2453 4.5% 147.81 1.6% 84.7%
C_150_6.35_1.52_F8_T1 2722 3.1% 150.83 4.9% 83.7%
Figure 8. Hysteresis loop in the stress-strain curve of “C-10-2-
F8-T1” specimen

determination of the Young’s modulus. The hystere-
sis loop for the determination of this modulus is
shown in Figure 8. The curve with the larger slope
(upper) corresponds to the loading phase while the
one with the smaller slope (lower), to the unloading
phase, respectively. Concerning the Young’s modu-
lus calculation, it is achieved with the following
Equation 2, in which EH corresponds to the finally
calculated Young’s modulus in the hoop direction
whereas El and Eu correspond to the values of the
Young’s moduli deriving from the loading and the
unloading phases, respectively.
E l E u
E H  
2 Tables 4-7 present the effect that some manufac-
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The results of the tests are presented in the following
Tables 1-7. The apparent hoop strength (σu) and the
calculated mean Young’s modulus (EH) are the two
magnitudes that are presented, followed by the re-
spective coefficients of variation (CV). The last col-
umn of the following tables consists of the fiber
weight fraction (Wf) for every type of specimen. The
fiber weight fraction has been measured according to
ASTM D3171 and is presented here for study com-
pleteness purposes.
3.1 Geometric characteristics effect
In Tables 1-3 the effect of several geometric
characteristics is examined. Tables 1 and 2 present
the comparison between specimens with different
inner diameter, whereas all the other characteristics
remain the same. On the other hand, Table 3 pre-
sents two identical types of specimens regarding
their inner diameter, the tensioning force and the
number of tows, in order to investigate the effect of
the width and thickness alteration.
3.2 Manufacturing parameters effect
(2)
turing characteristics of the filament winding meth-
od could have on the results of the testing procedure.
More specifically, in Table 4 the results of three
types of specimens are examined in order to investi-
gate the effect of the tensioning force. These batches
of specimens have inner diameter equal to 100 mm,
width and thickness equal to 10 mm and 2 mm, re-
spectively, and have been winded with the use of
one tow. The same parameter’s effect is presented in
Table 5 which contains the results of three more
types of specimens. In this case, the rings’ inner di-
ameter is 200 mm and 8 tows have been used for
their fabrication.
Finally, in Tables 6 and 7 the parameter which is
examined is the number of tows that are used for the
winding process, for 100 mm diameter specimens in
Table 6 and for 200 mm diameter specimens in Ta-
ble 7.
Table 4. Effect of tensioning force for specimens with inner di-
ameter 100 mm and 1 tow
Specimen σu CV EH CV Wf
MPa GPa
C_100_10_2_F8_T1 2392 4.5% 150.32 2.1% 77.3%
C_100_10_2_F25_T1 2293 7.8% 154.95 2.4% 77.7%
C_100_10_2_F45_T1 2332 4.6% 158.40 2.6% 83.0%

Table 5. Effect of tensioning force for specimens with inner di-

ameter 200 mm and 8 tows
Specimen σu CV EH CV Wf Figure 9. Graphical representation of the effect of the inner di-
MPa GPa ameter of the rings on the mean Young’s modulus and the ap-
parent hoop strength for the winding cases of 1 and 8 tows, re-
C_200_10_2_F8_T8 1629 5.8% 131.13 2.6% 79.3% spectively
C_200_10_2_F25_T8 1626 4.5% 151.04 4.8% 85.7%
C_200_10_2_F45_T8 1484 2.0% 150.72 4.2% 84.7%

Table 6. Effect of number of tows for specimens with 100 mm

inner diameter, 10 mm width, 2 mm thickness and 8 N tension-
ing force
Specimen σu CV EH CV Wf
MPa GPa
C_100_10_2_F8_T1 2392 4.5% 150.32 2.1% 77.3%
C_100_10_2_F8_T8 1485 3.9% 132.65 3.4% 82.0%

Table 7. Effect of number of tows for specimens with 200 mm Figure 10. Graphical representation of the effect of the tension-
inner diameter, 10 mm width, 2 mm thickness and 8 N tension- ing force on the mean Young’s modulus and the apparent hoop
ing force strength for the winding case of 1 tow
Specimen σu CV EH CV Wf
MPa GPa
C_200_10_2_F8_T1 2662 4.2% 155.09 2.0% 82.3%
C_200_10_2_F8_T8 1629 5.8% 131.13 2.6% 79.3%

4 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

The measurements of this study presented in the

previous tables can lead to the extraction of im-
Figure 11. Graphical representation of the effect of the tension-
portant conclusions concerning the effect of several ing force on the mean Young’s modulus and the apparent hoop
geometric and manufacturing characteristics on the strength for the winding case of 8 tows
results of the split disk testing procedure.
Starting with the discussion on the effect of the
specimens’ inner diameter (Tables 1-2), it can be ob-
served that the increase of the rings’ diameter leads
to a subsequent increase of the apparent hoop
strength, for both the 1 tow and the 8 tows winding
cases. More specifically, an increase of the inner di-
ameter from 100 mm to 200 mm causes the apparent
hoop strength value to increase by 8% when the
winding process is carried out with the use of 1 tow
and by 10% when 8 tows are used. On the other
hand, it is clear that the diameter of the rings has in-
significant effect on the Young’s modulus in the Figure 12. Graphical representation of the effect of the number
hoop direction for both cases of the winding process. of tows on the mean Young’s modulus and the apparent hoop
The aforementioned conclusions are schematically strength for the cases of rings with 100 mm and 200 mm inner
diameter, respectively
presented in Figure 9.

Figure 13. Typical failure mode of a ring specimen in which fi-
ber fracture is the dominant failure mode
Figure 14. Typical failure mode of a ring specimen in which fi-
ber fracture combines with extended delamination
Figure 15. Typical global decomposition-type failure mode
Concerning the effect of the change in the width
and thickness of rings with the same diameter that
are manufactured by identical procedure (Table 3), it
is shown that by decreasing these dimensions, the
apparent hoop strength increases by 11% while the
effect on the Young’s modulus is not important.
However, the results of Table 3 can be only used as
indications since a larger sample of combinations of
dimensions needs to be used in order to extract reli-
able conclusions.
An analysis of the results which are presented in
Tables 4 and 5 and refer to the effect of the tension-
ing force can also provide interesting conclusions. In
the case of the 100 mm diameter rings winded by 1
tow, the increase of the tensioning force has no ef-
fect on the apparent hoop strength. However, by in-
creasing the tensioning force, a corresponding slight
increase of the Young’s modulus is observed, which
is approximately 3% between the consecutive steps
of the force increase. On the other hand, in Table 5
which corresponds to 200 mm diameter rings wind-
ed by 8 tows, there are several results which are in-
consistent with the general observations. More spe-
cifically, although the increase of the force from 8 N
to 25 N has no effect on the apparent hoop strength,
as expected, the application of 45 N tensioning force
leads to a significantly lower value of strength. Ad-
ditionally, the value of the Young’s modulus of the 8
N case specimens is significantly lower than the re-
spective values of the 25 N and 45 N tensioning
force cases. The lower value of the respective fiber
weight fractions (79.3% versus 85.7% and 84.7%)
could be a possible justification of a slight drop of
the Young’s modulus values but not of such a signif-
icant decrease (approximately 13%). A more de-
scriptive representation of these results is presented
in Figures 10 and 11.
Finally, important conclusions can be extracted
from Tables 6 and 7, in which specimens with 100
mm and 200 mm diameter are compared with re-
spect to the number of tows that have been used for
their fabrication. Both tables show a significant de-
crease in the values of the apparent hoop strength
and the Young’s modulus when 8 tows are used, a
conclusion that is graphically presented in Figure 12,
too. More specifically, for the 100 mm diameter
specimens, the apparent hoop strength drops by 38%
and the Young’s modulus drops by 12%, whereas
the respective reductions for the case of 200 mm di-
ameter rings are 38.8% and 11.5%, respectively. The
significant decrease that is observed, especially con-
cerning the apparent hoop strength of the rings, is in
absolute compliance with the description of the ef-
fect of the number of tows in the manufacturing pro-
cess that has been made in section 2.2.2. It is clear
that, by using only 1 tow for the winding, the prop-
erties that are measured almost correspond to the
ones in the fiber direction. On the other hand, the
use of 8 tows leads to winding angles that deviate
from 4o-8o from the circumferential direction of the
rings, depending on the specimens’ diameter. In this
way, the properties in the hoop direction are signifi-
cantly decreased since the fibers’ effect in the mate-
rial properties has been reduced. Despite this clear
disadvantage of the simultaneous use of multiple
tows, though, composite manufacturers often prefer
it in contrast to the use of only 1 tow, because of the
reduction in fabrication time and cost that can be
achieved in this way.
Another important observation of the experi-
mental procedure that has been carried out in the
present study is the failure mode of the ring speci-
mens. Typical images of specimens after failure are
presented in Figures 13, 14 and 15. It is observed
that the dominant failure mode is fiber fracture due
Table 8. Comparison between the mean Young’s modulus (EH) and manufacturing parameters on the measured me-
and the Young’s modulus deriving from the loading phase chanical properties.
Percentage
Specimen EH El
of change
All tests carried out exhibited very good repeata-
bility and reliability, which are depicted by the very
GPa GPa
low values of the respective coefficients of variation
C_100_10_2_F8_T1 150.57 155.75 3.4% (<5% in all cases).
C_100_10_2_F25_T1 154.33 159.76 3.5% The investigation of the effect of the geometric
C_100_10_2_F45_T1 156.65 161.26 2.9% characteristics of the specimens has shown that by
C_100_10_2_F8_T8 130.85 135.28 3.4%
increasing the inner diameter of the rings, a moder-
ate raise in the values of the apparent hoop strength
C_150_6.35_1.52_F8_T1 150.83 159.42 5.7% is observed, while the Young’s modulus remains
C_150_10_2_F8_T1 147.81 156.03 5.6% almost unaffected. In addition, there are indications
C_200_10_2_F8_T1 155.09 163.47 5.4% that by reducing the width and thickness of the rings,
C_200_10_2_F8_T8 131.13 137.17 4.6% a slight increase in the apparent hoop strength’s val-
ue is achieved.
C_200_10_2_F25_T8 151.04 158.68 5.1%
Concerning the manufacturing parameters, it has
C_200_10_2_F45_T8 150.72 157.38 4.4% been observed that when the fiber tensioning force
increases, the Young’s modulus in the hoop direc-
to tension (Figure 13). In almost all specimens of tion also increases to a certain extent, while the ap-
each batch, fiber fracture led to the additional devel- parent hoop strength does not change. In addition,
opment of extended delamination (Figure 14). On the importance of the number of tows that are used
the other hand, in approximately 20% of the speci- for the winding procedure has been depicted. It has
mens, a global decomposition-type failure has been been concluded that by increasing the number of
observed (Figure 15). However, this specific behav- tows that are simultaneously used, the material
iour is not consistent and no sound conclusions can properties’ values in the hoop direction show a sig-
be extracted regarding the relevance of this phenom- nificant drop.
enon with specific specimens’ characteristics. The Apart from the test results, the present study has
aforementioned observations are strong evidence also depicted the importance of the elimination of
that the present testing procedure leads to the devel- the friction effects that take place during the split
opment of tensile stress field in the hoop direction disk testing procedure. It has been shown that the
and therefore, the results of the tests indeed reflect Young’s modulus estimation should be made by us-
the hoop tensile properties of the ring specimens. ing the modified procedure which is presented here-
Finally, interesting conclusions can be extracted in, otherwise an important overestimation of the ma-
concerning the Young’s modulus calculation in the terial properties could occur.
hoop direction. The importance of the modified cal- Finally, it has been shown that the specific testing
culation method that is adopted in the present study procedure followed here using the modified testing
is depicted by the results of Table 8. In this table, the fixture leads to failures due to fiber fracture under
first column presents the specimen batch type tension, confirming in this way, the reliability and
whereas the next two columns show the mean values the accuracy of the test method.
of the mean Young’s modulus obtained from the
loading-unloading curves (EH) and the correspond-
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that, the deviation between the two approaches due Tensile Strength of Plastic or Reinforced Plastic Pipe by
to the friction effects that take place during the pro- Split Disk Method.
ASTM D2344-00: Standard Test Method for Short-Beam
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