The tensile strength test and result comparison of new transparent architecture membrane material STFE

Figures & data

Figure 1. The coated fabric membrane structure- Shanghai Stadium.

Figure 2. The polymer membrane structure - Eden Project greenhouse.

Figure 3. The basic composition of the STFE membrane material.

Figure 4. The sparse arrangement of STFE membrane fibers.

Figure 5. The blurry effect of STFE membrane in structures.

Figure 6. The dimension of the clamping test specimen.

Figure 7. The dimension of the winding test specimen.

Figure 8. The dimension of the dumbbell-shaped test specimen.

Figure 9. The general clamping test device.

Figure 10. The dumbbell-shaped clamping test device.

Figure 11. The winding test device.

Table 1. The tensile strength of STFE membrane with different test methods (N/5 cm).

Test method	Warp/Weft	Value 1	Value 2	Value 3	Value 4	Value 5	Average value	Standard deviation
General clamping test	Warp	3615	3866	3484	4000	3844	3762	170
	Weft	3288	3417	3437	3359	3365	3373	47
Narrow dumbbell-shaped test	Warp	2443	3065	2726	2542	2628	2681	195
	Weft	3558	3462	3326	2878	2751	3195	294
Wide dumbbell-shaped test	Warp	2905	2802	2900	3024	2872	2901	66
	Weft	3415	3339	3217	3129	3045	3229	123
Rough surface contact winding test	Warp	3844	3923	4037	3950	3693	3889	106
	Weft	4208	4585	3579	4338	4507	4243	326
Smooth surface contact winding test	Warp	4508	4107	4019	4001	4571	4241	225
	Weft	4059	4511	4515	4310	4280	4335	154

Figure 12. The failure mode of the clamping test specimen.

Figure 13. The numerical model of the dumbbell-shaped test.

Table 2. The mechanical parameters of the fiber material.

Warp/Weft	Elastic modulus/(kN/m)	Poisson’s ratio	Shear modulus/(kN/m)
Warp	6300	0.13	30.5
Weft	9800	0.20

Figure 14. The numerical result of the dumbbell-shaped test.

Figure 15. The stress concentration effect in dumbbell-shaped numerical simulation.

Figure 16. The failure mode of the dumbbell-shaped specimen.

Figure 17. The comparison of rough and smooth surface contact winding test.

Table 3. The fracture elongation of STFE membrane with different test methods.

Test method	Warp/Weft	Value 1	Value 2	Value 3	Value 4	Value 5	Average value
General clamping test	Warp	6.67%	7.15%	7.03%	7.28%	7.23%	7.07%
	Weft	4.53%	4.92%	4.56%	4.72%	4.65%	4.68%
Smooth surface contact winding test	Warp	3.95%	4.49%	4.46%	4.41%	4.03%	4.27%
	Weft	3.17%	3.34%	3.19%	3.32%	3.28%	3.26%

Figure 18. The stress-strain curve of clamping test and winding test.

Table 4. The results of different membrane materials in tensile test.

Material	Warp/Weft	STFE	PET-PVC (1202T2)	Glass-PTFE (H302)	ETFE
Tensile strength (N/5cm)	Warp	4241	2903	5231	544
	Weft	4335	2935	4127	557
Fracture elongation	Warp	4.27%	13.5%	5.86%	362%
	Weft	3.26%	14.4%	7.92%	375%