Effects of misalignments on thermally induced shapes of woven fabric reinforced laminates

Fabric misalignment leads to unsymmetry in fibre reinforced composite laminates. This unsymmetry induces out-of-plane deformation after processing. This paper evaluates the influence of fabric misalignment on the out-of-plane deformation of flat press-consolidated thermoplastic laminates. The results of this analytical and experimentally validated study shows a strong relation between deformations and length/width ratio. In particular narrow laminates show high twisting values. The results obtained are of importance for the prediction of deformations of stamp formed thermoplastic laminates. (paper)