Experimental Assessment of Four Composite Material Shear Test Methods
Adams DF, Lewis EQ
(Received 0 0; accepted 0 0)

Abstract
Four ASTM standard shear test methods for characterizing composite materials were experimentally investigated: the short beam shear (ASTM D 2344), Iosipescu shear (ASTM D 5379), axial tension of a [±45]_ns laminate (ASTM D 3518), and two-rail shear (ASTM D 4255). Six composite material systems were utilized: two thermoset matrix composites, S2 glass/3501-6 epoxy and AS4 carbon/3501-6 epoxy; and four thermoplastic matrix composites, S2 glass/polyetherketoneketone (PEKK), AS4 carbon/PEKK, E-glass/J2 polyamide and AS4 carbon/J2 polyamide. The results obtained for both shear strength and shear modulus indicate that the various methods each have limitations and inherent inaccuracies, with no one method being clearly superior to the others in all aspects. However, the Iosipescu shear test method does exhibit a number of particularly favorable characteristics.

Keywords:
±45° tensile shear, carbon/epoxy, carbon/polyamide, carbon/polyetherketoneketone, glass/epoxy, glass/polyamide, glass/polyetherketoneketone, Iosipescu, rail shear, shear modulus, shear strength, shear tests, short beam

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Author Adams DF, Lewis EQ Title Experimental Assessment of Four Composite Material Shear Test Methods Symposium , Committee on