Cui, HaoMelro, António R.Yasaee, Mehdi2018-08-132018-08-132018-06-13Cui H, Yasaee M, Melro A, Inter-fibre failure of through-thickness reinforced laminates in combined transverse compression and shear load, Composites Science and Technology, Volume 165, Issue September 2018, pp. 48-570266-3538http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2018.06.011https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/13393Extensive studies have been reported on the improvement of through-thickness reinforcement to inter-laminar performance of composite laminates; current understanding on the in-plane performance is relatively limited, although it is also concerned in industrial application. The influence of through-thickness reinforcement (Z-pinning) on the inter-fibre failure in compression of unidirectional laminates was investigated. Both unpinned and Z-pinned laminates were tested at four different off-axis angles, representing different combinations of transverse compression and in-plane shear stress. It was found that the stiffness of Z-pinned laminates decreased significantly in all off-axis angles. The failure strain and strength were reduced in shear dominated failure modes, while improved in the compression dominated failure modes by the presence of the Z-pins. A further investigation on the angle of failure plane was carried out and a comparison with analytical failure models is presented.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Z-pinInter-fibre failureStrengthFibre volume fractureArticle20627459