Effect of stress ratio on the tension–tension fatigue behavior of tungsten carbide nanoparticles toughened GFRP

Abstract

The fatigue behavior of woven ply (0/90°) glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) laminates filled with 2 wt.% of tungsten carbide nano‐powder at different stress ratios, 0.1 and 0.3, was investigated. Specimens were subjected to constant amplitude fatigue loading for three stress levels, 80%, 70%, and 60%, of ultimate tensile strength at each stress ratio for both neat GFRP and tungsten carbide modified GFRP (GFRP‐WC). The fatigue life was enhanced at all stress levels in neat GFRP composites with an increase in stress ratio from 0.1 to 0.3. In addition, incorporation of nanoparticles also increases fatigue life at all stress levels for both stress ratios. The addition of nanoparticles acts as a barrier to crack propagation, which leads to a significant effect on the evolution of fatigue stiffness, cyclic creep strain, and dissipated energy during cyclic loading at both stress ratios.