Oriented short glass‐fiber composites. I. Preparation and statistical analysis of aligned fiber mats

Oriented short fiberglass mats were prepared by a converging flow technique of fiber/glycerine dispersions. The fiberglass contained 3 percent of identical colored fibers which were counted from enlarged photographs in regard to their deviation from the alignment axis. Representative accumulative data of fiber alignment are shown for optimal and inadequate preparation conditions. In successful experiments over 90 percent of the fibers were found in the angular range of ±15 deg and 57 percent within the range of ±5 deg. Statistical analysis has shown that the experimental accumulative curves can be best described by a single parameter exponential equation Y = 1 − e−λα where Y is the accumulative fraction of fibers, α is the orientation angle and λ is a single empirical parameter.