Failure Analysis of Boron/Epoxy Composite Laminates with Square Cutouts in Various Size under Uniaxial Tension

Abstract

Abstract Composite laminates have received much interest in precise engineering fields such as aerospace and automotive industries. Understanding the failure behaviour of laminated composites is important when designing modern structures, but many studies only focus on laminates without cutouts. In practice, the structures are design with cutouts to accommodate the space for fasteners, such as rivets, screws and bolts. This study analyses the failure behaviour of Boron/Epoxy composite laminates with square cutout of various sizes under uniaxial tension. In this study, failure analysis was performed using a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software, ANSYS, for laminated composite plates with square cutout. The laminas were arranged in the sequence of [θ4/04/-θ4]s where the fibre angle, θ ranges from 0˚ to 90˚. The failure load was predicted based Maximum stress theory. For better visualisation, failure curves are plotted and analysed. Prior to that, the numerical validation procedure has proved the accuracy of the simulation as the results obtained from analytical approach (Matlab) and simulation (ANSYS) are in close agreement. The failure curves show that the Boron/Epoxy composite laminate has weaken seven times due to the square cutout. Such information is vital when designing a structure. Even though more rigorous research should be conducted, it could not be denied that the current study has contributed significant fundamental knowledge. The novelty of this work is that a new set of failure envelopes for Boron/Epoxy laminates with various cutout sizes was developed.