The influence of temperature and moisture on the mode I fracture toughness and associated fracture morphology of a highly toughened aerospace CFRP
File(s)
Author(s)
Katafiasz, Tomas
Greenhalgh, Emile S
Allegri, Giuliano
Pinho, Silverstre T
Robinson, Paul
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This paper addresses the characterisation of the mode I interlaminar fracture toughness of a carbon fibre/epoxy composite material, toughened with thermoplastic particles in the ply interlayers. The characterisation is undertaken at −55 °C, 19 °C, and 90 °C, on both dry and fully moisture saturated coupons. Fractographic observations of the delamination surfaces allows identification of the failure mechanisms. The mode I propagation fracture toughness tested at wet/90 °C exhibits a 176% increase compared to the dry/19 °C specimens, due to enhanced plastic deformation of the interlayers and more prominent fibre bridging. Moisture-saturated coupons tested at −55 °C suffered a 57% reduction of mode I fracture toughness compared to those under dry/19 °C conditions. This is due to the dis-bond and consequent plucking of the thermoplastic particles from the surrounding matrix. This observation points to the fact that wet/cold conditions may represent the worst-case scenario for the interlaminar fracture performance of composite systems toughened with thermoplastic interleaves.
Date Issued
2021-03-01
Date Acceptance
2020-12-04
Citation
Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 2021, 142
ISSN
1359-835X
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Volume
142
Copyright Statement
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Sponsor
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Grant Number
113085
113190
113085
17017 - 113190
Subjects
Materials
0901 Aerospace Engineering
0912 Materials Engineering
0913 Mechanical Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 106241
Date Publish Online
2020-12-14