Schirmaier, F.J.F.J.SchirmaierWeidenmann, K.A.K.A.WeidenmannKärger, L.L.KärgerHenning, FrankFrankHenning2022-03-052022-03-052016https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/24307610.1016/j.compositesa.2015.10.004Thin composites shell structures manufactured from stitched unidirectional non-crimp fabrics (UD-NCF) in a liquid composite moulding process provides high lightweight design capabilities. However, draping behaviour of UD-NCF has been investigated only sparsely, in contrast to research on woven fabrics or biaxial non-crimp fabrics. Hence, this contribution focuses on fundamental investigations of the draping behaviour of UD-NCF. Within this investigation picture frame tests and uniaxial bias extension tests are performed to examine the in-plane shear behaviour of UD-NCF. Furthermore, a new method is presented to examine ambivalent tensile behaviour of UD-NCF transverse to the carbon fibre roving orientation. In particular, the influence of thin glass fibres on transverse tensile behaviour of UF-NCFs is investigated using a new clamping mechanism in tensile testing. Finally, hemisphere tests are performed to observe the forming behaviour of UD-NCF in a realistic forming process and to evaluate the proposed material characterisation methods regarding its suitability for UD-NCFs.en620journal article