Fiber-reinforced composite structures have seen an increased application in aeronautics and in other industries such as automotive, marine transportation, civil engineering, sporting goods, medical equipment and prosthetic devices. With the increased use of composite materials, there is a need to develop methods to predict the material properties and behavior of composite materials and structures made of these materials under a variety of loading and environmental conditions.

In this thesis, an experimental test procedure was designed and implemented to determine the mechanical properties of fiber reinforced composite structures. Resin transfer molding was used to manufacture the test specimens. Large panels were molded with different constituent concentrations. The test coupons were cut from a single plate using a water-jet cutting technique. Tensile and flexural tests were performed and tables of new material properties have been created. Each of the specimens were tested in a random order and the stress and strain data was calculated from the load and displacement results. The experimental tests were performed at two perpendicular orientations to determine the influence of fiber orientation on the material mechanical properties. Experimental values were obtained for tensile modulus, maximum stress, the strain at maximum stress, and Poissons ratio in all three directions.