Influence of fatigue damage on the impact performance of toughened-interleave carbon fibre epoxy composite laminates
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Thomson, Daniel
Sommer, Drew E
Quino, Gustavo
Falco, Olben
Petrinic, Nik
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The impact performance of mechanically fatigued carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite laminates with and without thermoplastic toughening particles has been investigated through a joint experimental and numerical campaign. Prismatic carbon fibre/epoxy specimens with added toughening particles at the ply interfaces were mechanically fatigued with different load amplitudes leading to a loss in apparent stiffness of 10% to 15%. Following the fatigue loading, high resolution computed tomography (CT) has been performed, revealing varying degrees of delamination starting from the free edges along the length of the specimens. In addition, transverse matrix cracks are observed in all fatigued specimens regardless of the amount of delamination. The residual ballistic impact performance of the damaged specimens has been investigated in a dynamic three-point bending configuration at three different velocities, showing a significant detrimental effect of even barely visible initial delamination. In addition, post-mortem CT scans and detailed finite element simulations are used to gain further insight into the mechanisms by which the two types of initial damage affected the impact resistance of the laminates. Finally, repeating the same experiments on a similar CFRP system without discrete toughening particles showed that their inclusion significantly increased the impact resistance both with and without prior fatigue damage.
Date Issued
2024-10-01
Date Acceptance
2024-07-02
Citation
Composite Structures, 2024, 345
ISSN
0263-8223
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Composite Structures
Volume
345
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
10.1016/j.compstruct.2024.118345
Subjects
BEHAVIOR
Damage mechanics
Delamination
Fatigue
Impact
LIFE MODEL
Materials Science
Materials Science, Composites
Mechanics
Numerical modelling
Science & Technology
SIMULATION
Technology
THICKNESS
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
118345
Date Publish Online
2024-07-06