ABSTRACT
As defined in Chapters 8 through 10, pure, uniform tension, compression, and shear loadings must be individually applied to establish the fundamental strength and stiffness properties of a composite material. A flexure test (i.e., the bending of a beam) typically induces tensile, compressive, and shear stresses simultaneously. Thus, this test is not usually a practical means of determining the fundamental properties of a composite material (Whitney et al. 1984, Adams 2000a).
