Experimental investigation of the flexural fatigue performance of plain woven basalt fiber/epoxy

Abstract

Fatigue of composite materials is a very complex phenomenon, to date a numerous research effort is being spent on it. Because of deficiencies in study of flexural fatigue performance basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP), the main objective of this work is to investigate the flexural fatigue performance of BFRP. The laminates of 4.0 mm average thickness were fabricated using the vacuum infusion technique. Three different stress levels of (162.90, 122.24, and 81.44) MPa were considered. A failure criterion was considered to be a 20% stiffness reduction of flexural fatigue test. Also, the stiffness reduction zones in the history of fatigue specimen were investigated. The failure mode of specimen at 20% reduction stiffness was inspected. The Weibull distribution function was used to obtain the failure probabilities and scatter. The S–N curve of composite laminates was constructed using five specimens at each number of cycles. This study indicated that under fatigue loading, the stiffness degradation process of composite materials was divided into three stages: the first is the high rate of stiffness degradation at the first few thousand cycles. The second stage then takes place with slow gradual stiffness degradation, which covers a sizeable portion of the component life. Finally, more grave types of damage occur, like fiber fracture, and induce complete material failure.