Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Glass and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composites

The material properties of S-2 glass-epoxy, IM6 graphite-epoxy, and hybrid glasscarbon epoxy composites have been studied to determine their suitability for composite rotor fabrication. For both the S-2 and IM6 materials, tension specimens in the form of longitudinal and transverse coupons and torsion specimens in the form of hoop wrapped and axial wrapped tubes were fabricated and tested to determine mechanical and electrical properties. Volume fractions for the samples were analyzed using electron microscopy and analysis by digestion. The results of the mechanical experiments were compared to rule of mixtures and Halpin-Tsai correlations for composite material properties as well as to torsion test results for a hybrid glass-carbon fiber reinforced tube.