LAUSR

Abstract Fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites offer a high potential for high-volume car body structures. A tailored use of thermoformed and subsequently injection overmolded unidirectional pultruded material in the so-called “skeleton design” is a promising approach towards economical lightweight design. The paper investigates the interlaminar shear strength of pultruded specimens for polyamide 6 and polypropylene as matrices at various temperature degrees. The specimens are made of different ratios of glass and carbon fibers. The results are compared to tape-laid specimens of the same materials to show the influence of the manufacturing technology. The performance is tested using a compression shear device at three testing temperatures −35 °C, +23 °C and +85 °C covering the typical temperature range for automobile structures as well as in conditioned and dry state. The interlaminar shear strength decreases on average by 65% from −35 °C to +85 °C, whereas conditioning reduces interlaminar shear strength by 25% at −35 °C and +23 °C with no influence at −35 °C. The results are analytically described in order to obtain a continuous description of the interlaminar shear strength within the analyzed temperature range.