Recent Research on Thermal Fatigue of Composite Elements of Transport Means

Abstract

Thermal fatigue occurred in many engineering constructions made of polymeric composites subjected to the intensive loading and vibrations. During this process the mechanical energy is dissipated in the form of heat due to the hysteretic behaviour of the material, which introduces the self-heating effect. In some cases the self-heating effect dominates the fatigue process and intensifies much structural degradation of composite elements. The paper presented a survey of engineering applications in which the self-heating effect and thermal fatigue occurred and recent advances in theoretical and experimental research in this area. Selected results of experimental studies were presented and discussed.