Influence of Curved Fibers on the Mechanical Behavior of Variable Stiffness Composites

Abstract

Composite materials are widely used in various industries due to their high specific characteristics. The most common composites are laminates, which consist of multidirectional layers with unidirectional fibers adapted to stresses of the laminates. However, the efficiency of such structures is significantly reduced when there are stress concentrators. One of the ways to increase the efficiency of composite structures with stress concentrators is to change the reinforcement structure and use the transition from unidirectional fibers to curvilinear fibers, which could be adapted to both the geometry and the loads of the composite structures. This short review describes the various methods by which it is possible to manufacture composite structures with curved fibers and change the reinforcement structure. Composite structures both unidirectional fibers and curved fibers made by different manufacturing technologies are considered and compared as well as the efficiency of the composites is analyzed.