Notched tensile response and damage mechanism of the GLARE laminate

Abstract

Glass laminate aluminum reinforced epoxy, as an attractive material for advanced aerospace applications, is most likely to face the challenge of various blunt notched damages. In this paper, the tensile tests of the glass laminate aluminum reinforced epoxy with circular and square blunt notches are conducted. The effects of notch geometry, such as notch diameter, notch corner radius, and off-axis angle, on the laminated tensile behaviors of glass laminate aluminum reinforced epoxy laminate are explored. A characteristic distance function representing the damage-affected region of notch is empirically constructed to predict the residual strength of the circular notched glass laminate aluminum reinforced epoxy based on a modified point stress criterion. For the square notched laminate, the strength is almost equal to that of the laminate with its circumscribed circle notch. Furthermore, the variation of two fracture patterns observed with the notch geometry is studied, and the evolution of the interlaminar delamination damage is analyzed after the metal chemical removal.