The effect of vascularization on the in-plane tensile properties and damage accumulation of three-dimensional orthogonally woven glass fiber composites

Complex organisms rely on vascular networks to adapt to their environment and perform necessary biological functions, such as providing fuel, healing wounds, removing waste, and regulating temperature in both soft and hard tissue. Bioinspired vascular composites have recently been developed using chemically treated polylactide fibers that depolymerize and vaporize at high temperatures [1]. The strength and flexibility of these sacrificial fibers allows them to be directly incorporated into fiber textile fabrics prior to matrix infiltration, resulting in highly customizable vascular architectures. In this study we investigate the effect of a vascular network on the in-plane tensile properties of three-dimensional orthogonally woven glass-epoxy composites. Two different 500 μm channel architectures are studied, including straight and undulating channels with total channel volume fractions of 1.4% and 1.8%, respectively. Tensile tests are performed with channels oriented both longitudinal and transverse to the loading direction. Strength and stiffness data is reported and compared to non-vascularized specimens. Future work will focus on characterizing the initiation and accumulation of damage in vascular composites through acoustic emission and optical microscopy.