Hygrothermal effects on the translaminar fracture toughness of a highly toughened aerospace CFRP: Experimental characterisation and model prediction
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The translaminar fracture toughness and its dependence on the environmental condition are key considerations in designing aerospace-grade composites with a high damage tolerance to severe service conditions in terms of temperature and moisture. The present work characterises and models the hygrothermal effects on the translaminar fracture toughness of an interlaminar toughened aerospace carbon/epoxy composite under six environmental conditions: −55 °C, 23 °C, and 90 °C, for both ‘dry’ (i.e. moisture free) and ‘wet’ (fully moisture-saturated) specimens. Cross-ply compact-tension experiments show that the translaminar fracture toughness increases with the rise of temperature for both dry and wet conditions with the latter exhibiting a much greater increase. A model to predict the effect of moisture and temperature on the translaminar fracture toughness is here proposed and developed. This approach yields good agreement with experimental results, and it allows an improved understanding of the complex synergistic effects of interfacial properties on the overall translaminar toughening mechanisms.
Date Issued
2021-11
Date Acceptance
2021-07-26
Citation
Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 2021, 150, pp.1-12
ISSN
1359-835X
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
1
End Page
12
Journal / Book Title
Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Volume
150
Copyright Statement
© 2021 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
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359835X2100302X?via%3Dihub
Grant Number
113085
17017 - 113190
Subjects
Materials
0901 Aerospace Engineering
0912 Materials Engineering
0913 Mechanical Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
106582
Date Publish Online
2021-08-03