  Understanding the bending mechanics of uncured carbon fibre prepreg is vital
for modelling forming processes and the formation of out-of-plane wrinkling
defects. This paper presents a modification of standard Dynamic Mechanical
Analysis (DMA) to characterise the viscoelastic bending mechanics of uncured
carbon fibre prepreg using Timoshenko beam theory. By post-processing DMA
results, the analysis provides temperature and rate-dependent values of inter
and intra-ply shear stiffness for a carbon fibre laminate and each individual
ply with experimental results for AS4/8552 presented. The new methodology
provides a means to parametrise process models, and also gives an indication of
optimal manufacturing conditions to enable defect-free forming and
consolidation processes.
