Tensile behaviors of basalt, carbon, glass, and aramid fabrics under various strain rates

High-strength fabrics are ideal materials for use in structural and aerospace systems where high-performance and lightweight structures are demanded. Mechanical characterization of this class of materials under dynamic loading is of great importance considering extreme conditions such as explosion, impact, and ballistic loading. The strain-rate effect on the tensile behaviors of unidirectional glass, basalt, carbon, and plain-woven aramid fabrics were evaluated under various strain rates (25, 50, and 100 s^-1) using a servohydraulic high-rate testing system. The stress-strain responses and failure modes of these fabrics at the investigated strain rates were studied. Quasi-static tests were also performed as a comparison. The results showed that as the strain rate increased from 25 to 100 s^-1, the average tensile strength of basalt, carbon, glass, and aramid fabrics increased from 1,095 to 1,743, 1,516 to 1,974, 1,072 to 1,462, and 1,530 to 1,897 MPa, respectively. Toughness and maximum strain were also found to be increased. The significance of strain-rate effect on the material properties of different fabrics was statistically tested using ANOVA. The P-values of tensile strength, toughness, maximum strain, and Young's modulus of all materials were less than 0.05, except for the maximum strain of basalt (P-value of 0.3134) and the toughness (P-value of 0.1832) and Young's modulus (P-value of 0.0662) of aramid.