The Effect of Fiber Length on Mechanical Properties of Short Carbon Fiber Composite Material Reinforced with Epoxy Matrix

- Carbon fiber composites possess the desired and ideal properties which paved way for a speedy development and positive outcome leading to effective use for various applications in last 10 to 15 years. Short carbon fiber possesses good mechanical properties and has been the focus of this experimental work, various parameters affect the performance of the final composite product. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the effect of fiber length of short carbon fibers on the tensile and compression properties in a 2D random case. Different lengths of short fibers reinforced in epoxy matrix composite plates are manufactured through hand layup technique. Each of the composite plate has a fiber volume fraction of 5 % and 95 % Epoxy. These composite plates were cut into tensile specimens and compression specimens as per ASTM D3039 as per ASTM D3410 through water jet cutting then subjected to tensile testing and compression testing in accordance with the same standard. Mechanical test i. e. tensile test and compression were performed on UTM and the results are reported. Results of the tests have shown that the Tensile strength and compression strength increases with the increase in the fiber lengths.