Evaluation of behavior of stitched epoxy-carbon fiber laminate under static bending conditions using simplified analysis of failure energy
Mateusz Kozioł, Rafał Mazurkiewicz
Quarterly No. 3, 2019 pages 112-118
DOI:
keywords: laminate, carbon fiber, static bending, failure energy
abstract The paper presents the attempt to assess the failure progress of a stitched carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) laminate by means of simple analysis of the failure energy after static bending tests. A laminate reinforced with a carbon twill weave (2/2) fabric, areal mass of 200 g/m2 in the form of 10 layer preforms was used for the tests. Some of the preforms were machine-stitched with a Kevlar50 thread in lines with a 4 mm stitch length and 5 mm stitch spacing. The matrix of the composites was epoxy resin and the panels were molded by RTM. Curing took place at room temperature for three days. A fiber volume fraction of 50.5÷51.5% was obtained. Static bending tests were carried out on samples of the manufactured materials. The obtained bending curves were subjected to a simple analysis of failure energy. It consisted in determining the energy corresponding to individual stages of the material destruction progress (i.e. the areas under the bending curve) as well as direct and comparative assessment of the determined values. It was found that the applied methodology of simple analysis of the failure process energy allows effective analysis of the failure progress of materials. The total failure energy obtained by the tested laminates in the main directions is: for unstitched about 8% higher than for stitched loaded in the direction along the stitch lines and about 15% higher than for stitched loaded transversely to the stitch lines. This means that less energy is needed to destroy a stitched laminate than to destroy an unstitched one. However, a stitched laminate exhibits a higher value of failure development energy at a later stage of the failure process, which translates into its greater residual load capacity compared to the unstitched one. It was also found that the DI factor (defined as the ratio of energy used to develop the failure process to the energy used to initiate the failure process) is higher for the stitched laminate than for the unstitched one. This trend applies to all the main load directions. This means that the stitched laminate is less fragile than the unstitched one. Analysis of the obtained results indicates that the stitched CFRP laminate is a material with a safer course of destruction than a corresponding unstitched one.