Non-destructive evaluation of stacking sequence in textile composite: different techniques and experimental verification

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to experimentally investigate the capability of four non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques to detect the layer orientation in textile composite laminates. The aerospace industry has been the primary driving force in the use of textile composites. Design/methodology/approach – Woven glass fiber composite samples were inspected using C-scan ultrasonic, vibration analyzer, X-ray micro-tomography and ultraviolet technique. In a complementary study, mechanical testing was carried out to investigate the effect of mid-layer orientation on in-plane tensile strength and their failure modes using microscopic imagining. Findings – During C-scan ultrasonic, the high attenuation and scattering of ultrasonic waves caused by the textile fabric layers limited its application to only detect the first layer of samples. Frequency response tests of composite samples were also conducted to investigate the effect of mid-layer orientation on dynamic responses. The same trend was observed in the finite element modeling results with a clear effect of the fiber orientation defect seen in frequency response function response and higher mode shapes. Moreover, the results of micro computed tomography demonstrate that this technique could definitely detect the orientation of each layer; however, X-ray imaging at small scales introduced some challenges. Images obtained from ultraviolet technique did not reveal mid-layer orientation. Originality/value – In this paper, the application of different NDT techniques along with finite element modeling to inspect two-dimensional textile composites was presented. Hopefully, the research results presented here will lead to much published papers in inspection of textile composites.