Characterization of a composite structure obtained by RFI using HexFIT® semi-products

The HexFIT™ is a semi-product used for large structures manufactured by the RFI process. In this work, large plate made of a quasi-isotropic lay-up is considered. The presented study aims at mechanically characterizing and identifying the process impact for such a structure. NDT (US & IR) are first used to highlight material heterogeneities and thickness variations. This approach helps us to define a sampling protocol in order to select tensile coupons taking into account thickness and width. Multi-instrumented tensile tests (strain field measurement, gauges and extensometer) are undertaken on specimens showing different widths, but almost same thicknesses. Comparison between the different strain measurements leads to qualify specific sensors for future characterizations.