Dell'Anno, GiuseppeCartié, Denis D. R.Partridge, Ivana K.Rezai, Amir2011-09-082011-09-082007-11-01Giuseppe Dell'Anno, Denis D. Cartie, Ivana K. Partridge, Amir Rezai, Exploring mechanical property balance in tufted carbon fabric/epoxy composites, Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, Volume 38, Issue 11, CompTest 2006, November 2007, Pages 2366-2373.1359-835Xhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2007.06.004http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/2630The paper details the manufacturing processes involved in the preparation of through-the-thickness reinforced composites via the ‘dry preform–tufting–liquid resin injection’ route. Samples for mechanical testing were prepared by tufting a 5 harness satin weave carbon fabric in a 3 mm × 3 mm square pitch configuration with a commercial glass or carbon tufting thread, infusing the reinforced preforms with liquid epoxy resin and curing them under moderate pressure. The glass thread reinforcement increases the compression-after-impact strength of a 3.3 mm thick carbon fabric laminate by 25%. The accompanying drop- downs in static tensile modulus and strength of the same tufted laminate are below 10%. The presence of tufts is also shown to result in a significant increase in the delamination crack growth resistance of tufted double-cantilever beam specimens and has been quantified for the case of a 6 mm thick tufted carbon non-crimped fabric (NCF)/epoxy cen-UK3-Dimensional reinforcementPolymer matrix composites (PMCs)PreformArticle