Compression After Impact and Fatigue of Reconsolidated Fiber-reinforced Thermoplastic Matrix Solid Composite Laminate

Abstract

Carbon fiber-reinforced poly-phenylene sulfide laminate coupons were impacted at low-energy in a drop-tower machine and subsequently fatigued in a four-point bending fixture. The doubly damaged test pieces were then hot-press reconsolidated and inspected nondestructively by vibrothermography to check their structural integrity. The residual mechanical properties of the laminate in both the as-damaged and as-repaired conditions were determined by compression loading with the in-plane strain fields determined via a digital image correlation system. Cross-section views of damaged and repaired samples were analyzed by light optical microscopy and correlated to residual mechanical properties, as were the digital image correlation and nondestructive test results. Based on the values of stiffness and ultimate strength of the repaired laminates, 10 J was inferred as the maximum impact energy at which it is worthwhile performing hot-press reconsolidation, in view of the applied fatigue history following impact.

Static and fatigue behavior of basalt fiber-reinforced thermoplastic epoxy composites

“…15 Goel et al 16 studied the fatigue behavior of PP/20 vol.% E-glass FRP and found that fiber-pullout/fiber fracture/ matrix fracture were the energy-absorption mechanisms during tensile and fatigue testing. The static and fatigue strengths of thermoplastic PP/PE FRP composites 16,17 are much lower than those of their thermosetting counterparts owing to their complexity of manufacturing and poor interface properties. Furthermore, no investigations have been carried out on new basalt fiberreinforced thermoplastic epoxy polymer (BFRTP) composites.…”

Residual properties of composite plates subjected to impact fatigue

“…[34][35][36][37][38] These works have undertaken the use of compression-afterimpact (CAI) to measure the residual strength. [38][39][40][41][42] This is understandable, because of the high sensitivity of compression properties to impact, mainly because of delamination. In order to characterize damage, several authors attempted to establish a correlation between the material damage and measurable mechanical properties, this is not always easy.…”