This study investigates the effect of fabric manipulation on performance of unidirectional non-crimp fiber reinforced polymer composites. Conventionally hand layup process is being followed in wind turbine manufacturing industries which is a time consuming process. To overcome the long man labor, automatic layup method could be used to make the process faster. Before implementing the automatic layup process in industries, it is essential to study how in-plane wave caused by shifting is going to affect the properties of the fabric and thus predict the life of the fabric. Fatigue and compressive tests were conducted on the fabric to study the behavior of the fabric in actual wind turbine manufacturing applications.

Samples were made by stacking four layers of fabric one over each other with a definite shift angles and then followed by resin infusion and then cut the coupons for testing. Stacking of in-plane wave samples over each other resulted in formation of out of plane waviness. Eight coupons per shift angles of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 degree were cut out for tests. Compression loading and compression fatigue testing was performed on the samples to characterize the properties.

The maximum strength level concentration acted on the point of grip on the fabric sample. The result from the experimental tests support and help explain the impact of shifting on the unidirectional fiber reinforced polymer composites and used to establish the manufacturing defects in the unidirectional fabric from shifting process.