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Laminates are produced by stacking prefabricated plies composed of fiber products. Within the aerospace industry, a ply thickness of 125 μ m is commonly regarded as the standard. Ply thicknesses of less than 100 μ m are generally considered as thin plies. Due to their ability to provide superior mechanical properties relative to conventional laminates thin-ply (TP) laminates are gaining interest in several high-tech industries. Although the research on TP laminates increased over the past few years, a comprehensive evaluation of the mechanical behavior of TP laminates accounting for the ply-thickness is an ongoing challenge due to the intricacies of ply interactions, and experimental difficulties. The mechanical response of fiber reinforced polymer laminates is governed by damage progression during loading, with the thickness of individual plies playing a crucial role in influencing the initiation and evolution of local cracks and failures. Therefore, in this study, the effective mechanical properties of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite with varied ply thicknesses have been experimentally evaluated and the accumulation of the damage events has been monitored using acoustic emission measurements, utilizing a contactless laser vibrometer. In this experimental study, the ply thickness is increased in a systematic manner (ranging from 50 μ m to 200 μ m). Experimental investigation has been carried out in quasi-static tension and compression. The results show that unnotched TP laminates subjected to tensile loading demonstrate enhanced effective strength, attributed to less premature failure. Conversely, as the thickness of the lamina increases, there is a reduction in the overall strength of the laminate. However, in the case of the notched specimen lowest strength has been observed at a ply-thickness of 100 μ m in this study. Under compressive loading, unnotched and notched specimen tends to show similar mechanical behavior to unnotched specimens under tensile loading. The overall strength is raised with decreasing ply thickness. The findings from this study may be valuable for incorporating ply-thickness considerations into models for predicting the mechanical performance of laminates under dynamic loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work examines the effects of varying weight percentages (0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 wt%) of pristine and functionalized graphene (–COOH, –OH, and –NH2) on the compression and impact strength of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite laminates. The laminates were fabricated in two different stacking sequences of carbon fiber in composite laminates, i.e., 0/90° and 0/90/ ± 45° by hand layup technique. Experimental results showed that the inclusion of graphene in epoxy matrix enhances the compressive strength and impact characteristics, namely impact force, displacement, energy profile, and damage behavior of CFRP laminates. Moreover, the orientation of carbon fiber layers in laminates affects the internal damage behavior of specimens and the delamination between fiber layers. The maximum improvements of 38.65 and 76.82% are noticed in the compressive strengths of 0/90° and 0/90/ ± 45° stacked laminates with the reinforcement of 0.1 wt% of pristine and 0.3 wt% of –COOH functionalized graphene to epoxy, respectively. In summary, the test results have shown that using graphene as a reinforcing filler can significantly improve the impact performance of CFRP composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Materiae Compositae Sinica is the property of Acta Materiea Compositae Sinica Editorial Department and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Mode II (in-plane-shear) delamination tests are more complex than mode I (opening) due to the presence of a contact force between the two arms. This force is essential for the calculation of the energy release rate (ERR) and is closely linked to friction effects. A novel formulation is presented in this article to estimate the contact force analytically. Specifically, the contact force is derived within the context of the rigid, semi-rigid, and flexible joint models. The analytical solutions consider the case of a generally layered composite laminate with residual hygrothermal stresses and are used to evaluate the ERR. The new formulation is compared with numerical models created using the Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) and the Cohesive Zone Method (CZM) for a fiber–metal laminate. The results show that the new formulation provides nearly identical ERR predictions to those of the VCCT and CZM models. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the effect of friction on the ERR is less than 1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a mesoscale damage model for composite materials and its validation at the coupon level by predicting scaling effects in un-notched carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates. The proposed material model presents a revised longitudinal damage law that accounts for the effect of complex 3D stress states in the prediction of onset and broadening of longitudinal compressive failure mechanisms. To predict transverse failure mechanisms of unidirectional CFRPs, this model was then combined with a 3D frictional smeared crack model. The complete mesoscale damage model was implemented in ABAQUS®/Explicit. Intralaminar damage onset and propagation were predicted using solid elements, and in-situ properties were included using different material cards according to the position and effective thickness of the plies. Delamination was captured using cohesive elements. To validate the implemented damage model, the analysis of size effects in quasi-isotropic un-notched coupons under tensile and compressive loading was compared with the test data available in the literature. Two types of scaling were addressed: sublaminate-level scaling, obtained by the repetition of the sublaminate stacking sequence, and ply-level scaling, realized by changing the effective thickness of each ply block. Validation was successfully completed as the obtained results were in agreement with the experimental findings, having an acceptable deviation from the mean experimental values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of thin-ply composite materials has rapidly increased due to their tailorable mechanical properties and design flexibility. Considering an adhesively bonded composite joint, peel stress stands out as a key contributor leading to failure among other primary stress factors. Therefore, the reinforcement of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates throughout the thickness could be considered as an approach to improve the joint strength. Using thin plies locally between the conventional CFRP layers in a laminate can enhance the strength, as the sudden change in stiffness means that the load transfer is not monotonous. Consequently, the following study examined the effect of altering thin plies gradually throughout the thickness on the behaviour of the CFRP laminates when subjected to transverse tensile loading. To achieve this goal, the CFRP laminates were gradually modified by using different commercially accessible prepreg thin plies, leading to an improved overall structural performance by reducing stress concentrations. Besides conducting an experimental study, a numerical assessment was also carried out utilizing Abaqus software with a Representative Volume Element (RVE) at the micro scale. The comparison of reference configurations, which involved various thin plies with different thicknesses and traditional CFRP laminates, with the suggested gradual configuration, demonstrated a notable enhancement in both strength and material cost. Furthermore, the proposed RVE model showed promising capability in accurately forecasting the strength of fabricated laminates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delamination is one of the most feared failure modes in laminated composites and yet there is a lack of well established procedures to find the ply configuration with the highest delamination resistance for a given geometry of the component and a set of elastic and strength constraints. This paper presents a methodology for determining the quasi-isotropic ply sequence more resistant to delamination under off-axis uniaxial tension. Delamination is considered to be triggered by interlaminar stresses at free-edges or by matrix cracks. Two different ply thicknesses (standard and thin) and two sets of ply orientations (multiples of π /4 or π /8) are considered. The results show that the use of thin plies enlarges the design domain by up to 70% and generates a practically isotropic safe space. The methodology presented is also suitable for optimizing the delamination resistance of other load cases with stress singularities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laminates with ultra-thin plies is a promising new development for polymeric composite materials expected to provide superior resistance to intralaminar crack propagation. The ply thickness effect on the crack initiation stress that according to some theoretical studies on fiber/matrix debonding does not depend on the ply thickness was investigated. Ultra-thin ply carbon fiber/epoxy cross-ply laminates subjected to tensile loading at room, –50, and –150°C temperatures relevant for cryogenic fuel storage, aeronautical, and aerospace applications were studied. The stochastic nature of the crack initiation stress in the 90°-plies was analyzed using Weibull strength distribution. The results obtained show delayed transverse crack initiation only in the thinnest plies with a clear trend that the scale parameter is much larger. This thickness effect on initiation is different than that for crack propagation which is observable in much larger ply thickness range. Regarding crack propagation, it was found that in most cases even at very high applied strain levels (1.5%) only a few transverse cracks have propagated from the specimen edges to its middle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Interlaminar delamination is a common damage mechanism in composite laminates that can lead to structural failure. Assessment using contemporary numerical modeling techniques requires delamination behavior as a traction–separation response. However, existing experimental characterization approaches are not well suited to support these modeling techniques as specimens were developed to assess single delamination parameters, not a full traction–separation response, or utilize analysis schemes that require knowledge of material properties. Objective: To develop a test specimen and data analysis methodology to directly measure the traction–separation response of Mode I delamination in a laminated fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite, including strength, toughness, and damage response. Methods: The proposed composite Rigid Double Cantilever Beam (cRDCB) specimen is comprised of a [0]_4 unidirectional E-glass/epoxy laminate co-cured to rigid metallic adherends. Traction–separation response was assessed directly from measured force and displacement behavior using a closed-form analysis scheme that does not require a priori knowledge of composite material properties. Standard double cantilever beam (DCB) tests were performed for comparison. Results: The cRDCB specimen captured early damage initiation and progression in greater detail than the DCB, with measured strain energy release rates agreeing well between the two approaches. The cRDCB also captured the effects of large-scale damage mechanisms such as fiber bridging. The measured traction–separation responses are suitable for scenarios where prediction of the initiation and early damage response of delamination is important. Conclusions: Combined with a data processing technique, a single cRDCB test enabled measurement of the full Mode I traction–separation response. In addition, the cRDCB provided high-resolution and could detect early-stage Mode I delamination damage in FRP laminates. The measured traction–separation responses can be directly inputted into cohesive zone models to predict the initiation and progression of Mode I delamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fiber composite laminates are an important alternative to metal in many mechanical structural applications. Carbon fiber composite laminates usually have multidirectional plies with different angles. In this study, a simple analytical model is derived to predict the notch strength of these multidirectional plies from the unidirectional strength of the 0° ply. The first method considers the orthogonal analysis of the forces introduced in each ply at the Cartesian coordinates in each of the 2 axes with their direction, and then calculates the resulting forces. The second method considers the percentage of layers inside the laminates and then orthogonally analyzes the induced forces on the entire laminate sheets. The resulting stress induced by these forces is calculated according to the theory of maximum failure shear or principal stress. In addition, the fracture toughness G IC was predicted based on the strength of the unnotched laminates calculated by previous methods. In addition, the size effect of the open-hole specimen was measured based on the predicted fracture toughness and strength of the unnotched laminates. The model was compared with available experimental and other published models. The optimum values for the two methods of fracture toughness were determined. The average percent accuracy of size effect prediction based on the first method is 3.24%, while it is 6.82% for the second method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the distribution of the strain energy release rate (SERR) at the crack front of carbon fiber‐reinforced polymer laminates with elastic coupling is analyzed using the edge ring crack torsion (ERCT) test configuration. The SERR at the delamination front is calculated by virtual crack closure technique (VCCT). Elastic coupling laminates, including bending‐extension (BE) and bending‐torsion (BT) ones with different stacking sequences are studied. The effect of two different loading boundary conditions on the SERR distribution of laminates is also investigated. The results demonstrate that the distribution of SERR is significantly affected by the elastic coupling and stacking sequence. In addition, elastic coupling introduces mode I and mode II components in the ERCT configuration. However, their contribution is negligible. In comparison to unidirectional laminates, better uniformity of SERR distribution can be obtained in the BE and BT laminates. Pure mode III fracture without non‐uniformity is achievable by designing the elastic coupling of laminates. The obtained results can provide guidance for the standardization of the ERCT configuration used for the measurement of mode III fracture toughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the promising application of Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors (DOFS) in monitoring damage in composite structures, their implementation outside academia is still unsatisfactory due to the lack of a systematic approach to assessing their damage detection performance. The existing tool developed for non-destructive evaluation, Probability of Detection (POD) curves, needs to be adapted for structural health monitoring applications to account for spatial and temporal dependency. Damage detection performance with DOFS is deeply related to the inherent variability sources of the system, the strain transfer properties of the optical fiber, and the loading conditions, which determine the damage-induced strain on the structure. This paper establishes a systematic approach based on the Length at Detection (LaD) method to qualify DOFS for damage detection in composites under different scenarios. Specifically, this study considers two DOFS with different strain transfer properties for monitoring delamination in carbon fiber reinforced polymers double-cantilever beam specimens under mode I quasi-static and fatigue loading. The POD curves derived from the LaD method confirm that this methodology can quantify the change in the detection performance due to the DOFS type and the loading conditions. The study also proposes a practical solution to compare POD curves obtained with different sample sizes, by introducing the concept of virtual specimens to simulate the lower confidence bound convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly studies the dynamic response of composites with glass fiber as reinforcement and polypropylene resin as matrix under high-speed projectile penetration. The penetration effects of fiber unidirectional ply cross-ply and quasi-isotropic ply laminate were studied by using penetration velocities of 100–500 m/s. The effects of ply angle on ballistic limit velocity, target energy absorption rate and corresponding failure mode are analyzed. The correctness of the simulation model is verified by comparative experiments, and the ply angle of glass fiber reinforced polypropylene (GF/PP) composites is optimized. The results show that the energy absorption efficiency of the three kinds of laminated plates gradually decreases with the increase of the projectile incident velocity, and with the increase of the velocity, the absorption rate of the target plate gradually decreases tends to the same constant. The laminated plates with complex ply angles are simulated and analyzed, and the optimization results show that the ballistic limit velocity of fiber-reinforced composite laminates with ply angle of 30° is the highest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are functionalized through diazonium salt reaction to introduce polar groups onto their surfaces. These functionalized CNTs (FCNTs) are added into PPO solutions at different loadings (0 wt%, 0.5 wt%, 1 wt%, 1.5 wt%) and used for electrospinning. The results show that the addition of FCNTs facilitate the production of PPO veils having small fiber diameters. The veils are used as interleaves in CF/EP composite laminates. The Mode I and Mode II interlaminar fracture toughness tests reveal that PPO veils containing 0.5 wt% FCNTs exhibit the optimal toughening. GICini and GIIC have an improvement of approximately 120% and 180% over the untoughened samples, respectively, which is 15% and 26% higher than that of PPO veils containing no CNTs, respectively. The toughening mechanism is also analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been demonstrated that a possible solution to reducing delamination in a unidirectional composite laminate lies in the replacement of conventional carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer layers with optimized thin-ply layers, thus creating hybrid laminates. This leads to an increase in the transverse tensile strength of the hybrid composite laminate. This study investigates the performance of a hybrid composite laminate reinforced by thin plies used as adherends in bonded single lap joints. Two different composites with the commercial references Texipreg HS 160 T700 and NTPT-TP415 were used as the conventional composite and thin-ply material, respectively. Three configurations were considered in this study: two reference single lap joints with a conventional composite or thin ply used as the adherends and a hybrid single lap. The joints were quasi-statically loaded and recorded with a high-speed camera, allowing for the determination of damage initiation sites. Numerical models of the joints were also created, allowing for a better understanding of the underlying failure mechanisms and the identification of the damage initiation sites. The results show a significant increase in tensile strength for the hybrid joints compared to the conventional ones as a result of changes in the damage initiation sites and the level of delamination present in the joint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural properties of braided composite laminates are significantly affected by the low‐velocity impact (LVI). In this paper, the impact resistance and damage tolerance of triaxial braid structure laminates at different positions were mainly studied. Three hybrid biaxial (B)/triaxial (T) braided composite structures of BBTT, BTTB, and TTBB were designed, and LVI test and post‐impact compression tests were carried out. The results show that the triaxial braided fabric with quasi‐isotropic on the impact side caused more significant matrix cracks along the axis yarn direction, and the matrix damage area and delamination area were larger. For triaxial braided ply with high curl levels, severe fiber fracture and relatively concentrated damage occurred first on the non‐impact side. Interestingly, triaxial braided fabrics exhibited better impact resistance in terms of mechanical response when distributed across the specimen surface. However, a global damage pattern appears at high energy levels, which seriously reduced the residual strength of the structure and showed the worst damage tolerance. The damage quantification analysis of cracks, dent depths, delamination and residual compressive strength caused by the LVI of hybrid shaft number braided laminates was carried out in this work, which provided a valuable reference for engineering failure analysis and rational structure optimization of composite laminates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unidirectional 90° laminates (UD‐90) have been tested under tension–tension loading (R = 0.1) to comprehend the effect of different conditions on their fatigue life. Four different case studies have been evaluated: the existence of porosity using two different UD‐90 laminates cured at different pressures in an autoclave, the importance of the surface finishing when a pressure plate is used, the effect of load frequency, and the relevance of the prepreg thickness comparing 190 and 50 g/m2 prepregs while keeping the total thickness of the laminates constant. All these case studies have been analyzed employing S–N curves as the starting point of the authors' current research for the prediction of the onset of transverse damages in ultra‐thin plies in the assessment of different cross‐ply laminates under cyclic loading. Highlights: Ultra‐thin plies motivate this work to look into scale effect under fatigue.90° unidirectional laminates are tested under tension–tension fatigue loading.Conventional (190 g/m2) and ultra‐thin (50 g/m2) carbon/epoxy prepregs are used.S–N curves are obtained at different cyclic loading conditions without losing accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the contribution of fiber bridging to the energy release rate of a fracture resistance curve. Fiber bridging occurs when testing beam‐type specimens consisting of unidirectional plies in a laminate. Unidirectional double cantilever beam specimens composed of the carbon fiber reinforced polymer prepreg AS4/8552 were tested using standard methods. In addition, a cohesive zone model was developed and used to carry out finite element analyses on the tested specimens. It was employed to calculate the contribution of fiber bridging to the R‐curve which was determined from the tests. Fiber bridging in beam specimens increases the apparent fracture toughness of a composite laminate. A method has been proposed for evaluating its contribution to the energy release rate. In that way, an R‐curve may be determined for which the effect of fiber bridging is eliminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultra-light composites are produced through the spread tow technology. The success of spread tow fabrics lies in their unique woven structure. By interlacing widespread thin flat tapes, instead of regular (and thicker) yarns, more straight fibers and thinner plies are obtained which leads to improvements in the mechanical performance in terms of both stiffness and strength. The available numerical studies on spread tow fabric composites are based on the approximation to equivalent thin ply laminates, where the key observations are dedicated to a delayed or suppressed microcracking. This paper helps to investigate the limitations of considering thin-ply spread tow composites as equivalent laminates, as well as to bring more understanding on how the tow thickness affect the sequence of failure mechanisms. As an aid to these investigations, a parameterized mesoscale model has been developed that preserves the complex geometry of the woven structure and can analyze the tow thickness effect down to 35 µm. By applying shifted periodic boundary conditions through the thickness, the effect of periodic layer shifting is also analyzed without having to discretize and model more than one layer of the composite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the strain measurement accuracy of single-mode fibre (SMF) under thermal and vibration loads is investigated by strain-frequency shift coefficient analyses. This research allows for the application of SMF sensors for structural health monitoring in real operational conditions. The strain measurement accuracy under combined static and thermal load is investigated experimentally, which demonstrated that temperature fluctuations induce non-negligible errors in the strain measurement, even with temperature compensation applied. The temperature fluctuation range which can induce measurement errors is quantified as less than −20 ° C or higher than 55 ° C. In addition, a fatigue experiment is conducted to investigate the measurement accuracy under low-frequency vibration load. The results of the fatigue experiment demonstrate that the vibrations mainly increase the ratio of null values in strain measurements. Findings from experiments can be applied to enhance structural health monitoring accuracy and reduce false positives. This study has important implications for the service application of distributed optical fibre sensing for composite structure health monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been explored that thin ply would improve the mechanical performances of carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites laminate. It has not been known whether there are similar effects on thermoplastic composites. In this article, carbon fiber reinforced polyamide 6 (CF/PA6) unidirectional fabrics with two thicknesses of 0.045 and 0.105 mm were used to fabricate the unidirectional laminate (UDL). Tensile and bending behaviors of the UDL were recorded with a digital image correlation (DIC) system, their damage macro‐morphologies were observed with high‐speed camera during loading. The fracture microstructures of the samples were observed with SEM and optic microscope. The results showed that the tensile and bending strengths of the samples with 0.045 mm thick are 79.8% and 24.8% higher than that with 0.105 mm thick. Thinning ply can inhibit the crack expanding, and the time from crack originating to fracture of the sample is larger than that of the thick ply one. Morphologies of the fractures revealed that the crack mainly expanded in the matrix along the loading direction for thin‐ply laminate, while the crack developed in the fiber cluster for thick‐ply laminate. The results also revealed that the mechanical properties of the laminate can be improved obviously by using thin‐ply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main stress component which creates delamination in bonded single lap joints with composite adherends is the transverse tensile stress. Therefore, the following study investigates the behavior of composite laminates (reference and hybrid laminates reinforced by thin‐ply) under transverse tensile loading. Texipreg HS 160T700 and NTPT‐TP415 were used as the conventional carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and thin‐ply respectively. Hybrid composite laminates were studied using different amounts of thin‐ply, applied through the thickness. The manufactured laminates, of unidirectionally stacked construction, were tested under transverse tensile loading. Digital image correlation was performed to investigate the average peel strain distribution for the composite and to better understand the phenomena associated to the use of hybrid laminates. Experimental results show that the reinforced hybrid composite laminates, created using thin‐plies, present higher failure load compared to the reference conventional CFRP or thin‐ply laminates. This was found to be due to the higher ductility enabled by the presence of thin‐plies. Distributing a constant amount of thin‐ply through the thickness was found to increase the laminate transverse strength, as the thin‐ply laminates act as a barrier against crack propagation. A representative volume element was studied for each configuration since this numerical method brings the opportunity to investigate the studied configurations in microscale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multidirectional laminates are more widely used in practical engineering, and their fiber bridging characteristics are more obvious than unidirectional laminates. Due to the deficiency of research on the relationship between interface angle and interlaminar fracture toughness of multidirectional laminates, the numerical model of interface mode I fracture toughness of multidirectional laminates related to interface angle is modified by analyzing the difference between steady-state fracture toughness and initial fracture toughness of each interface. Meanwhile, the mode I interlaminar fracture toughness of multidirectional composite laminates under five interface modes is studied. Based on the finite element software, the cohesion model is established and verified. The analytical results are in good agreement with the experimental data, and the modified model can better verify the relationship between interface angle and interlaminar fracture toughness. At the same time, the fiber bridge force in the process of delamination along different interfaces is calculated, which provides a basis for the modified model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately predicting ultimate strength of composite laminate is still a great challenge, especially only based on the constituent properties. In this paper, the micromechanics Bridging Model and systematic failure criteria for the constituent materials with emphasis on matrix failures subjected to three dimensional (3D) loads are compiled into a UMAT subroutine for ABAQUS to analyze failures of a laminated composite structure. The main purpose of this research is to greatly reduce calculation costs for loading conditions of in-plane tension or compression by introducing a simplified 3D finite element model based on the Pipes-Pagano theory. In all calculation cases, only the constituent properties together with the transverse tensile strength of unidirectional composite are needed as input data. Later in this paper, sufficient illustrations of 81 different composite laminates composed of 14 material systems are analyzed to confirm the practicability of this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) materials is increasing in many different industries, such as those operating in the aviation, marine, and automotive sectors. In these applications, composite parts are often joined with other composite or metallic parts, where adhesive bonding plays a key role. Unlike conventional joining methods, adhesive bonding does not add weight or require the drilling of holes, both of which are major sources of stress concentration. The performance of a composite joint is dependent on multiple factors and can be improved by modifying the adhesive layer or the composite layup of the adherend. Moreover, joint geometry, surface preparation, and the manufacturing methods used for production are also important factors. The present work reviews recent developments on the design and manufacture of adhesively bonded joints with composite substrates, with particular interest in adherend modification techniques. The effects of stacking sequence, use of thin-plies, composite metal laminates and its specific surface preparations, and the use of toughened surface layers in the composite adherends are described for adhesively bonded CFRP structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) structures are vulnerable to low-speed impacts, which will lead to almost invisible impact damage. Therefore, the timely localization of impact is of great significance to damage detection and maintenance of the structure. In this article, a low velocity impact supervisory and testing system based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors was built up for CFRP laminates to obtain the low velocity impact strain sensitivity model. Meanwhile, genetic algorithm was applied to optimize the configuration of the FBG sensing network. The eigenvectors of the impact signals were extracted by applying fast Fourier transform (FFT) transform and principal component analysis (PCA) technology used as the input of the back propagation (BP) neural network model, while the corresponding impact coordinates were used as the output, to train the model. After training, the impact position prediction model based on BP neural network was obtained, thereby achieving the impact localization for CFRP laminates successfully with an average localization error of 2.1 cm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A full-scale model for predicting low-velocity impact (LVI) damage and compression after impact (CAI) strength was established based on a subroutine of the material constitutive relationship and the cohesive elements. The dynamic responses of the laminate under impact load and damage propagation under a compressive load were presented. The influences of impact energy and ply thickness on the impact damage and the CAI strength were predicted. The predicted results were compared with the experimental ones. It is shown that the predicted value of the CAI strength is in good agreement with the experimental result. As the impact energy reaches a certain value, the CAI strength no longer decreases with the increase in the impact energy. Decreasing the ply thickness can effectively improve the damage resistance and CAI strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of traction–separation relations is at the forefront of damage and fracture mechanics of composite laminates. Such relations are of particular interest in fracture of laminates consisting of layers of different fiber orientations. In this study, an iterative method based on internal strain measurements and parametric numerical modeling is employed to identify a traction–separation relation in quasi-static mode I dominated delamination of a cross-ply carbon fiber epoxy laminate. The results demonstrate that crack propagation is accompanied by a large bridging zone which is smaller than the zone in a uniaxial composite specimen of the same materials and linear dimensions. While the initiation value of the energy release rate (ERR) is the same, the ERR at steady state propagation and the maximum stress in the bridging zone are respectively 1.7 and 3.1 times larger than the corresponding values of the unidirectional specimen. The obtained traction–separation relation is employed in a cohesive zone model to predict the loading response and crack growth. The adopted approach is a step towards a better understanding of delamination in cross-ply composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the accuracy of global expressions of the energy release rates for laminate composite beam specimens. The specimens considered here are composed of multi-directional woven plies; they include double cantilever beam (DCB), mixed mode end loaded split (MMELS) and calibrated end loaded split (C-ELS) specimens. As a result of the layup, the upper and lower specimen arms possess different heights and stiffnesses. Global expressions that exist in the literature are used in the calculations. New expressions are developed to account for the differing stiffnesses. Results from tests carried out elsewhere are used in the calculations. The obtained results are compared to values found by means of finite element analyses. It was seen that for DCB specimens, the best results were obtained when the specimen arm heights and stiffnesses, together with a correction for the deflection and rotation at the delamination front, were accounted for. These are presented in Appendix A. For the MMELS specimens, the best comparison between the finite element results and the global expressions for the interface energy release rate was found when accounting for different specimen arm heights or both different specimen arm heights and stiffnesses but without the delamination length correction. The best results for the C-ELS specimens were obtained when both the specimen arm heights and stiffness were considered, together with the delamination length correction. Thus, it would appear that the global expressions may be used to estimate the energy release rate for beam type specimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of initial delamination is crucial to ensure the safety of the fiber-reinforced laminated composite structures. Amongst the identification approaches based on mode shapes, the concept of multiscale shear-strain gradient (MSG) has an explicit physical sense of characterizing delamination-induced singularity of shear strains; moreover, it is robust against noise interference owing to the merits of multiscale analysis. However, the capacity of the MSG for identifying initial delamination is insufficient because the delamination-induced singularity peak can be largely obscured by the global component of the MSG. Addressing this problem, this study proposes an enhanced approach for identifying initial delamination in fiber-reinforced composite laminates. In particular, the multiscale modulation filter (MMF) is proposed to modulate the MSG with the aim of focusing on damage features, by which a new concept of enhanced MSG (EMSG) is formulated to extract damage features. By taking advantage of the MMF with the optimal frequency translation parameters, the EMSG is concentrated in a narrow wavenumber band, which is dominated by the damage-induced singularity peak. As a consequence, the delamination-induced singularity peak in the EMSG can be isolated from the global component. The capacity of the approach for identifying initial delamination is experimentally validated on a carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate, whose mode shapes are acquired via non-contact laser measurement. The experimental results reveal that the EMSG-based approach is capable of graphically characterizing the presence, location, and size of initial delamination in CFRP laminates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of spread-tow, thin-ply technology, ultra-thin composite laminates could be produced. Composite bolted joints are commonly used on aircraft's load-bearing structures and are considered the main cause of stress concentration. The aim of this research is to investigate the bolted joint behavior of composite laminates that combine thin-plies and conventional thick-plies in a predetermined stacking sequence. The impact of thin-ply placement within the stack on bearing strength, including the onset of damages, is examined. The work involves mechanical tests and fractographic activities to understand the damage mechanisms of the plies and their interactions, and its reflections on the bearing load capacity of the joint for double-lap bolted joints. The results showed an improvement in the bearing strength of up to 19% by inserting the thin-plies inside the laminate. The visual examination of the specimens showed a bearing damage mode for all the tested specimens. The computed tomography scans showed damage mechanisms that mostly occurred with the normal plies, rather than breaking the thin-plies. For the specimens of traditional plies, delaminations were noticed at most of the interfaces. For the one with a block of thin-plies in the middle, all the delaminations were forced to the surface layers with an extra large size. Forspecimens with distributed thin-plies, a higher number of smaller delaminations was recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In previous study the failure initiation and development in hybrid fiber laminates was successfully monitored and determined. In current investigation a novel damage monitoring approach is proposed for hybrid laminates by combining different optical strain measurement techniques namely digital image correlation (DIC), fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBG) and infrared thermography (IRT) with smoothing element analysis (SEA). This viable experimental procedure eliminates the effects of global/local nature of optical strain measurement systems on heterogeneous damage accumulation and is a two-step approach. First, all optical sensing systems together with conventional strain gauges are utilized concurrently to indicate the differences in the measured strains and monitor damage accumulation under tensile loading. This demonstrates how failure events disturb the measurement capabilities of optical systems, which can cause a miscalculation of hybrid effect in hybrid-fiber laminates. The second step involves the utilization of SEA algorithm for discretely measured DIC displacements to predict a realistic continuous displacement/strain map and rigorously mitigate the inherent noise of the full field optical system. Remarkably, for large deformation states in hybrid composites, the combination of SEA/DIC enables early prediction of susceptible damage zones at stress levels 30% below material strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interlaminar mechanical properties of composites are important parameters for the application of laminates, and many scholars have applied carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a promising solution to alleviate the delamination of laminates owing to its excellent mechanical properties and resin compatibility. The types of CNTs and their spatial distribution state in laminates can significantly affect the final interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) and fracture toughness of the laminates. In this paper, the methods of introducing CNTs into laminates are summarized, the techniques and methods for controlling the key parameters of CNTs such as dispersion, distribution and orientation of CNTs in laminates are reviewed. And then, these parameters of CNTs on ILSS and fracture toughness were discussed. It was found that CNTs with small diameters had more advantages in improving interlaminar mechanical properties because they easily penetrated the reinforced fabric. Moreover, CNTs distributed vertically along the thickness direction can improve the interlaminar mechanical properties of composites to a greater extent. Furthermore, through comprehensive comparison, we found that chemical vapor deposition method, interlayer insertion and surface assembly can significantly improve the mode I interlaminar fracture toughness, while the resin mixing and prepreg modification can greatly improve the mode II interlaminar fracture toughness. In addition, CNTs local filling technology can achieve the purpose of local performance improvement for composite components. Finally, the current issues and potential opportunities of the carbon fiber-reinforced laminates filled with CNTs are pointed out, and new directions for future prospects are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A two-dimensional (2D) model was established by the finite element method to study the transient hygroscopic process and moisture-induced stress to better understand the moisture absorption microscopic process of ordered polyvinyl alcohol fiber (PVAF)-reinforced thermoplastic starch (TPS) composite films and the corresponding moisture-induced stress. The Mises stress contour of moisture distribution at five time points (36, 68, 100, 176, and 348 h) under four relative humidities (RH=57%, 75%, 84%, 98%) is demonstrated. The variation in moisture content along the two paths of width (AB) and thickness (CD) in the 2D model and the moisture-induced stress were also studied in detail. The results show that when the time t is 348 h, the saturated moisture contents along CD are 5.27, 17.22, 30.58, and 59.14%, and along AB are 5.27, 17.19, 30.57, and 59.07%. In addition, the change in moisture content, regardless of whether the path was AB or CD, mainly occurred before 176 h. The simulation results of moisture absorption are in good agreement with the experimental results. The ultimate moisture-induced stress is the largest in the fiber surroundings, which are 0.398, 1.30, 2.31, and 4.48 MPa at four RHs, respectively, and the internal moisture stress of 4.48 MPa was within the tensile strength (2–6 MPa) of PVAF/TPS (PVAF <0.89 vt%), which resulted in composite film failure. This paper provides a new way to understand the moisture absorption mechanism and explore possible methods for improving the water-resistance of TPS films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents the results of an experimental study performed in carbon/epoxy composite materials manufactured using a ply-level hybridization technique. The aim of the study is to investigate the potential of such hybridization technique to promote pseudo-ductile failure, and to enhance fracture toughness. Two thin-ply carbon-epoxy systems and three different carbon-carbon hybrid lay-ups are considered. Both strength and fracture tests are performed on the manufactured laminates and the properties of the hybrid materials are compared to those of the baseline non-hybrid composites. Digital Image Correlation and post-mortem X-ray imaging are used to analyze the fracture process of the different materials. The comparison of the mechanical response of the different materials demonstrates that, by means of thin ply hybridization, a pseudo-ductile failure in tension can be obtained, associated with fibre fragmentation. However, the hybridization seems not to be responsible for the increased fracture toughness that is ascribable to the ply-thickness effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The double cantilever beam (DCB) specimen has been used extensively to measure the mode I fracture toughness of laminate composites. There are standards which were developed for testing unidirectional (UD) material. In addition, this specimen has been used extensively for multi-directional laminates. Typically, fracture resistance curves are presented. To this end, calculation of the energy release rate is required. For UD specimens, there are expressions for this parameter given in the standards. They depend upon the applied load, the crack opening displacement, specimen dimensions and the axial Young's modulus or specimen compliance. For multi-directional composites, the specimen arms may not be symmetric. In this case, the arm heights differ, as well as their effective moduli. In this study, expressions are presented for all cases. That is, expressions for the energy release rate are presented in which the specimen arms are symmetric and in which their heights differ; these are found in the literature. In addition, new expressions for which the axial moduli also differ are developed. Calculations are made with these equations and compared to results obtained elsewhere using the finite element method and the conservative J-integral. It is seen that excellent agreement is achieved when both the different heights and moduli are accounted for, as well as a delamination length correction. The purpose of this investigation is to examine expressions for calculating the energy release rate in comparison to finite element analyses and to show that by taking into consideration the different specimen arm heights and stiffnesses, simple formulas may be used instead of the more complicated finite element analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Composite materials are known for their high stiffness and strength at lower weight as compared to conventional structural materials. Recently, there has been a growing interest in finding the new ways to decrease delamination failure, which is a life limiting factor of laminated composites. This review paper emphasizes on the effects of different reinforcement structures on mode I fracture toughness and possible ways to improve fracture toughness. A brief description on intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms of crack growth has been discussed along with the earlier investigations and recent developments for mode I fracture toughness testing. Factors that affect the fracture toughness are also discussed. A brief knowledge of mode I fracture toughness of traditional and advanced fiber-reinforced composites is given, which could help researchers to understand fracture behaviors of composites and thus, it can help engineers to design composites with higher interlaminar strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curved laminates in aero-structures, such as the L-angle sections where webs and flanges meet, are prone to delamination due to high interlaminar stresses in these regions. Some efforts to investigate delamination in these structures can be found in the literature but commonly structures are limited to unidirectional layups or modelling approaches are constrained to the cohesive element based methods. In this work, multi-directional L-angle laminates were manufactured using unidirectional prepregs and tested under four-point bending load conditions to examine the interface damage. Acoustic emission technique was used to assist the capture of damage initiation and propagation. Three interface modelling strategies for predicting delamination, namely cohesive element, cohesive surface and perfectly bonded interface were used in the numerical study. The interface damage behaviour was successfully predicted by the simulation methods and differences among the strategies were compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel approach is developed to evaluate the property retention on prolonged ultra-violet exposure and hence, health monitoring of glass fiber reinforced polymer composite laminate. This is achieved in a non-destructive manner by mapping the strength retention with the established strain. Embedded fiber Bragg grating sensor and strain gauges are employed to monitor the strain evolution within the laminate. Tensile and flexural tests are conducted at regular intervals to estimate the mechanical strength retention with varying duration of ultra-violet exposure. Through this analysis, it is observed that the property degradation mechanism follows the first-order reaction kinetics. The degradation of matrix material along with the stress relaxation over time develops the stress–strain fields near the interfaces of matrix and fiber. Moreover, the established strain is interpreted by formulating the model that considers the unifying influence of stress relaxation and chemical degradation. This model has closely (R2 = 0.9810 and 0.9790) predicted the experimental data of strain than the existing ones (R2 = 0.9142 and 0.9119). Besides, property retention is mapped with the predicted strain. More importantly, FESEM and FTIR confirm the fact that ultra-violet radiation degrades the matrix material, and thus the mechanical property gets significantly deteriorated. This suggests that the strain measurement is an effective, non-destructive and health monitoring technique to assess the property degradation of the manufactured glass fiber reinforced polymer composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Models of Representative Volume Elements of cross-ply laminates with different geometric configurations and damage states are studied. Debond growth is characterized by the estimation of the Mode I and Mode II Energy Release Rate using the Virtual Crack Closure Technique. It is found that the presence of the 0 ∘ / 90 ∘ interface and the thickness of the 0 ∘ layer has no effect, apart from laminates with ultra-thin 90 ∘ plies where it is however modest. The present analysis supports the claim that debond growth is not affected by the ply-thickness effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scrutinizing delaminated composites is extensively conducted based on measurements of various types of nondestructive sensing apparatus, classified herein as systems of thermographic inspection, piezoelectric inspection, optical interferometric inspection, electromagnetic testing, ultrasonic testing, and visual testing. The development of the subject has been reviewed during 2000-2017. Not only does the substantial corresponding literature strongly indicates numerous increasing industrial demand for composites, including carbon fiber-reinforced polymer, glass fiber-reinforced polymer, and fiber-reinforced metal laminate, but also the significant potential of composites to delaminate when subjected particularly to impact, machining operation or manufacturing imperfections. Conducting a study on the corresponding literature, the subject of delamination inspection within composites is found to be a dynamic, mature field, while lacking a thorough literature review. Therefore, the present study addresses the mentioned gap regarding various sensation systems utilized so as to detect internal anomalies in composites for the review arrangement. To that end, the literature inclusion in terms of citation times is electronically adopted associated with an appropriate combination of keywords. The study may be considered as a comprehensive, up-to-date review covering all delamination inspection techniques founded on sensation systems, thus benefiting the readers with information in an organized configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, failure mechanisms and damage evolution in low-thickness composite laminates are numerically simulated. The effect of thinning ply on the strength and damage evolution of composite laminates is investigated. Micromechanical modeling is performed to study damage initiation and propagation mechanisms and ply thickness or in situ effect in thin-ply carbon fiber-reinforced laminate under transverse tension loading. Two different sets of models are examined. The first set of the thin-ply laminate models contains a representative volume element (RVE) of 90° lamina constrained between two homogenized 0° plies. Thicknesses of models with embedded 90° lamina were 30, 60, 90 and 120 μm. In the second set, two models with 30 and 90 μm of 90° thin ply as the outer layers with embedded homogenized 0° layer are considered. Micromechanical analysis is combined with augmented finite element method to provide high-fidelity results of damage evolution. Random fibers' arrangement and interface toughness and strength normal distribution are considered to capture the composite stochastic behavior. It is shown that the damage initiation and propagation locations are affected by the thickness of 90° lamina and distributions of fracture properties within the RVE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Nowadays, the existing damage detection methods for composite structures roughly identify the defects by equivalent means without considering their anisotropy. Owing to this reason, this article is aimed at proposing an anisotropic reduction factor (ARF)‐based damage identification method in view of the description of damage in composite continuum damage mechanics (CDM). On the basis of the proposed method, the adequate damage information including the damage locations, types, and extent will be achieved. The ARF is established referring to the damage model in structures made of isotropic materials utilizing the damage parameter in CDM. To eliminate the dispersion of composite structures, the model updating for the pristine structure is performed. Then a two‐step damage identification for detecting the ARF is put forward. First, the modal strain energy‐based method is utilized to locate the damage, by which the candidate damaged elements can be selected. Here, taking advantage of the improved reduction system method, the damage localization method can be completed with incomplete modal information. Second, the optimization method based on direct search algorithm is adopted to identify the damage type and extent of the candidate elements by minimizing the error of the modal information between the reference model and the damage model. The measurement noises are taken into consideration. Two numerical examples and an experimental example are studied to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer matrix composite laminates with standard thickness plies (0.125 mm) usually have weak interlaminar shear strength, meanwhile, for thin-thickness laminate structures such as aircraft wing skin, it is difficult to design a balanced laminate with the standard plies. It is a possible way to improve the interlaminar shear performance of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite laminates and enlarge the design space of the thin-thickness structures by using thin-plies technology. In this paper, the interlaminar shear strength of carbon fiber/epoxy laminates with thin prepreg thickness subjected to short-beam bending is investigated. Unidirectional, cross-ply and quasi-isotropic laminate specimens were prepared by using prepregs with different ply thicknesses. Results show that, with decreasing of the ply thickness, higher interlaminar shear strength and smaller coefficient of variation of the data are obtained. Compared to laminates made by standard thickness prepreg, the laminates with thin-thickness prepreg exhibit more homogeneous microstructures and more regularly interlaminar shear stress distribution. This indicates that inherent anisotropy of the laminate composites is weakened in the thin-ply laminates and show pseudo-isotropic behavior. Especially in the case of ply thickness less than 0.020 mm, the interlaminar shear stress distributions of the cross-ply and quasi-isotropic laminate are almost the same with that of isotropic materials according to the classic laminate theory. On the other hand, as expected, the design space of the thin-thickness laminate structures will be increased since more ply number are allowed and superior interlaminar properties can be obtained due to the pseudo-isotropic behavior of the thin plies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed compliance systems with integrated variable stiffness elements show great promise for reconciling the conflicting requirements of morphing. The distinct structural properties of each equilibrium configuration allow bi-stable laminates to provide stiffness variability in a purely elastic, energy-efficient manner. This article presents a novel morphing concept based on a distributed arrangement of embeddable variable stiffness bi-stable composites inside a 500 mm chord NACA 0012 profile (where ‘NACA’ is the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics). The structural response of the aerofoil is assessed numerically and experimentally, with a particular focus on the global stiffness modification potential via the snap-through of the component laminates. Extending the validated finite element models to include a weak static aeroelastic coupling permits evaluation of the aerodynamic adequacy of the final, passively morphed shapes. This concurrent aero-structural methodology is finally employed to develop an improved design. The results allow for assessing the feasibility and potential of the innovative morphing approach exploiting selective compliance provided by the stiffness variability of the integrated bi-stable elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with mode II interlaminar delamination properties and failure mechanisms of composite laminates in three-point end-notched flexure (3-ENF) tests under fixed cyclic loading. The results for fracture toughness, fatigue driving force and delamination propagation behaviours of three different types of carbon and E-glass fibre/epoxy resin-reinforced composite laminates are evaluated and compared with each other for providing an insight into fatigue damage development in composites and for constituting a fundamental basis for the development of a characterization model. A new characterization formulation is presented for mode II interlaminar delamination propagation based on controlling fatigue stress. Finally, the model is applied to experimental data, demonstrating the practical and effective use of the proposed model. It is shown that fatigue-driven strength for mode II interlaminar delamination propagation can be obtained realistically from experimental data using the new formulae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of a new empirical model, aiming to predict the indentation depth resulting in a composite laminate from a hemispherical tup impacting it at low velocity, is here proposed. With this simple model including only the diameter of the impactor and the ratio between the impact energy and the perforation one, a material-independent parameter characterising the indentation depth is identified. Several samples with different thicknesses, impacted by various impactor tips, are tested for estimating this parameter. To reach the above mentioned scopes, low velocity impact tests were carried out on two different composite systems with different stacking sequences, thicknesses and fiber volume fractions: (a) glass/epoxy prepreg; (b) graphite/epoxy prepreg. The samples were simply supported on steel plates or clamped and they were struck at the center by hemispherical steel noses having 16 and 19.8 mm diameters. After impact, indentation was measured according to EN 6038 standard. The CFRP indentation data were drawn from a database: about 200 test records, generated by various researchers were individuated. The advantages of the new model are that the effect of the tup diameter is explicitly accounted for. Furthermore, a single material constant has to be experimentally determined and it can be assumed as an index for the indentation sensitivity, on the basis of which different materials can be ranked. The constant was found similar for GFRP and CFRP laminates denoting independence of constraint conditions, laminate type or laminae orientation and stacking sequence. POLYM. COMPOS., 34:2061-2066, 2013. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]