Analysis of Mode I Interlaminar Fracture and Damage Behavior of GFRP Woven Laminates at Cryogenic Temperatures

Abstract

The interlaminar fracture and damage behavior of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) woven laminates at cryogenic temperatures has been investigated theoretically and numerically. The corrected beam theory and finite element analysis (FEA) have been used to calculate the Mode I interlaminar fracture toughness (IFT) of double cantilever beam (DCB) specimens at room temperature, liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K), and liquid helium temperature (4 K). The effect of temperature on the Mode I IFT was investigated. A FEA coupled with damage was also employed to study the damage distributions within the specimen and to examine the effect of damage on the Mode I energy release rate. The corrected beam theory or FEA shows good agreement with the previous experimental compliance of the DCB specimen. The numerical results show that damage causes a decrease in the energy release rate. This work is the first application of failure criteria (Hoffman criterion and maximum strain criterion) to the analysis of the cryogenic behavior of woven laminate DCB specimens.