The influence of the nonwoven veil architectures on interlaminar fracture toughness of interleaved composites

Nonwoven veils with a range of weights formed from polyphenylenesulfide (PPS) fibres with different diameter were interleaved within unidirectional carbon fibre epoxy composites and their mode I and mode II interlaminar fracture toughness (IFT) measured. In modes I and II the IFT increases with the areal density of the veil up to a plateau; at a given areal density, the mode I IFT is greater for thin fibres than for thicker fibres. For the PPS...