A Mode I cohesive law characterization procedure for through-the-thickness crack propagation in composite laminates

A method is proposed for the experimental characterization of through-the-thickness damage propagation in multidirectional carbon fiber reinforced polymer laminates. The compact tension specimen configuration is used to propagate damage stably while load and full-field displacements are recorded. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Composites. Part B, Engineering Engineering, 2016-06, Vol.94, p.338-349
Main Authors: Bergan, Andrew, Dávila, Carlos, Leone, Frank, Awerbuch, Jonathan, Tan, Tein-Min
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
A. Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs)
B. Fracture toughness
C. Finite element analysis (FEA)
Carbon fiber reinforced plastics
Cohesion
Crack propagation
D. Mechanical testing
Damage
Extrapolation
Fracture mechanics
Laminates
Propagation (polymerization)
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Summary:A method is proposed for the experimental characterization of through-the-thickness damage propagation in multidirectional carbon fiber reinforced polymer laminates. The compact tension specimen configuration is used to propagate damage stably while load and full-field displacements are recorded. These measurements are used to compute the fracture toughness and crack opening displacement from which a trilinear cohesive law is characterized. The proposed method provides a means to extrapolate to steady-state such that the cohesive law is characterized completely and accurately, even when the test specimens used for the characterization are too small to reach steady-state crack propagation. The characterized cohesive law is demonstrated through a prediction of the structural response and fracture of a geometrically-scaled test specimen.
ISSN:1359-8368
1879-1069
DOI:10.1016/j.compositesb.2016.03.071