Experimental investigations on flexural behaviour of delaminated carbon/epoxy composite using three dimensional digital image correlation

Abstract

In semi automated manufacturing processes of multilayered carbon fiber reinforced composites, defects are induced. These defects cause reduction in service life of the products and lead to decrease in structural performance. In the present work, carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite laminate with a stacking sequence of [0/0//45/−45/90/45/−45/90/90/−45/45/90/−45/45/0/0] was fabricated by hand lay-up method using vacuum bagging technique. An artificial defect to create pre-delamination was located in this composite between 0° and 45° plies at the centre of laminate. Experiments were conducted in four-point bending to determine the stiffness behavior of composite laminate and study other damage patterns occurred due to the existence of pre-delamination. The probable reasons for occurrence of other damage forms are explained in detail. Three-dimensional digital image correlation (DIC) technique was employed to determine displacements and strains of the specimen. The out of plane displacement due to local buckling against the bending load was also quantified.