Warp and weft directional tensile properties of multistitched biaxial woven E-glass/polyester composites

The objective of this research work was to understand the warp and weft directional tensile properties of the two-dimensional multistitched multilayer E-glass/polyester woven composites. The warp and weft directional specific tensile strength and modulus of unstitched structure were higher than those of multistitched structures as stitching caused minor warp and weft yarn filament breakages. Contrarily, the specific tensile strains of unstitched structure were slightly lower than those of all multistitched structures. The stitching yarn type, the number of stitching directions, and the stitching density generally influenced the warp and weft directional tensile properties of multistitched E-glass/polyester woven composites. The failure of warp and weft directional multistitched woven E-glass/polyester composite structures was matrix breakages, and partial and complete yarn breakages in their surfaces. They had a local delamination in their cross-sections and the delamination did not propagate to the large areas due to multidirectional stitching. Also, the failure was confined at a narrow area and resulted in the catastrophic fiber breakages. The warp and weft directional specific damaged areas of multistitched structures, in particular four-directional stitching, were significantly lower than those of the unstitched structures. This indicated that the multistitching made the structures better damage-tolerance materials.