Central tearing behaviors of PVC coated fabrics with initial notch

This paper presents the central tearing behaviors of PVC coated fabrics with initial notch. First, groups of uniaxial tensile tests are carried out, in which the effects of notch shape, notch size, specimen size and loading rate on the central tearing behaviors are studied. Then, a tearing analysis model for PVC coated fabrics with initial notch is proposed, in order to predict the tear strength of specimens with different notches. Finally, the comparisons between experiment data and the predictions of four common models are presented. Results show that the existence of initial notch significantly reduces the ultimate strength of specimens. With notch size increasing, the tear strength decreases. The effect of initial notch on the tear properties can be attributed to the transverse size of initial notch. The nominal stress of specimens with initial notch is not affected by the size of specimens, which can be used as an important standard to evaluate the tearing properties. The proposed model can make a better prediction on the tear strength of specimens with initial notch, compared with the other models. The tensile strength of yarns, the woven density of yarns and the notch size are the main factors affecting the tearing strength.