Abstract
The present study fabricates fibrous composite with curvilinear fiber shape by using tailored fiber placement machine which is an application of embroidering machine. The composite with curved fibers has variable mechanical properties depending on fiber curvature. Due to this curvature, the overlapping of fiber tows often occurs. First the relationships among fiber density, thickness and overlap rate are revealed by experimental study with test specimens that have various curvatures or overlap rates. Then, regression equations for stiffness in terms of overlap rate are estimated for various fiber shapes. Finally, natural frequencies and mode shapes are calculated by finite element analysis with estimated mechanical properties, and those are compared with experimental results. The present calculated results indicated good agreement with experimental results. Therefore, it was found that the obtained regression equation is effective to predict mechanical behavior of composite with curvilinear fiber.
