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A comparative study of failure features in aerospace grade unidirectional and bidirectional woven CFRP composite laminates under four‐point bend fatigue loads
Author(s) -
Suresh Kumar M.,
Ambresha M.,
Panbarasu K.,
Kishore I.,
Ranganath V. R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
materialwissenschaft und werkstofftechnik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.285
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1521-4052
pISSN - 0933-5137
DOI - 10.1002/mawe.201400278
Subject(s) - aerospace , composite laminates , materials science , structural engineering , composite number , composite material , point (geometry) , fatigue testing , engineering , aerospace engineering , mathematics , geometry
Damage mechanisms in unidirectional (UD) and bi‐directional (BD) woven carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates subjected to four point flexure, both in static and fatigue loadings, were studied. The damage progression in composites was monitored by observing the slopes of the load vs. deflection data that represent the stiffness of the given specimen geometry over a number of cycles. It was observed that the unidirectional composites exhibit gradual loss in stiffness whereas the bidirectional woven composites show a relatively quicker loss during stage II of fatigue damage progression. Both, the static and the fatigue failures in unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites originates due to generation of cracks on compression face while in bidirectional woven composites the damage ensues from both the compression and the tensile faces. These observations are supported by a detailed fractographic analysis.