Mode I delamination growth of multidirectional composite laminates under fatigue loading

Abstract

Fatigue delamination growth of multidirectional carbon/bismaleimide composites was investigated to disclose the specific role of ply orientations. Both fatigue crack growth rate and threshold values of strain energy release rate in Mode I were studied by double cantilever beam test. For specimens with rising delamination resistance effect, the fatigue crack growth rate was found to be dependent on normalized interlaminar energy, GI/GIC, rather than GI. The experimental data also show that the fatigue threshold Gth is almost proportional to the corresponding GIC, that is Gth /GIC is constant and hardly affected by the midplane-adjacent fiber orientation. Furthermore, fractographs revealed that the rising delamination resistance is dominantly aroused by fiber bridging and intra-ply fracture.