Abstract
A new fiber spreading technology (FUKUI method) to obtain the continuously wide and thin reinforcing fiber tow was developed. Thin prepreg sheet less than 0.05 mm in thickness can be prepared by using this method. In the previous study, the tensile tests were conducted on the Carbon/Epoxy quasi-isotropic laminates which were composed of stacking these prepreg sheets. As a result, the thin-ply effect was found, that is, the initial failure stress increases with decreasing ply thickness. This effect was previously predicted by Kageyama et al. In this work, the thin-ply effects on the compressive properties have been studied. As a result, the thin-ply effect was found not only in tensile tests but also in compression tests. This result implies that the design strength of composites can be improved by the use of thin prepreg sheets. In other words, this result means that the weight saving and reliability can be achieved using thin prepreg sheets as a composite materials.
