scholarly journals Environmental effects on mode II fracture toughness of unidirectional E-glass/vinyl ester laminated composites

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 382-393
Author(s):  
Mazaher Salamt-Talab ◽  
Fatemeh Delzendehrooy ◽  
Alireza Akhavan-Safar ◽  
Mahdi Safari ◽  
Hossein Bahrami-Manesh ◽  
...  

Abstract In this article, mode II fracture toughness ( G IIc {G}_{\text{IIc}} ) of unidirectional E-glass/vinyl ester composites subjected to sulfuric acid aging is studied at two different temperatures (25 and 90°C). Specimens were manufactured using the hand lay-up method with the [ 0 ] 20 {{[}0]}_{20} stacking sequence. To study the effects of environmental conditions, samples were exposed to 30 wt% sulfuric acid at room temperature (25°C) for 0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks. Some samples were also placed in the same solution but at 90°C and for 3, 6, 9, and 12 days to determine the interlaminar fracture toughness at different aging conditions. Fracture tests were conducted using end notched flexure (ENF) specimens according to ASTM D7905. The results obtained at 25°C showed that mode II fracture toughness increases for the first 2 weeks of aging and then it decreases for the last 8 weeks. It was also found that the flexural modulus changes with the same trend. Based on the results of the specimens aged at 90°C, a sharp drop in fracture toughness and flexural modulus with a significant decrease in maximum load have been observed due to the aging. Finite element simulations were performed using the cohesive zone model (CZM) to predict the global response of the tested beams.

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (24) ◽  
pp. 1468-1480
Author(s):  
Tengfei Chang ◽  
Lihua Zhan ◽  
Wei Tan ◽  
Xintong Wu

Current manufacturing processes using resin transfer molding or low-pressure prepreg curing may result in different defects and interfacial properties. The effect of autoclave pressure on the delamination behavior of T800/X850 composite laminates is explored. Cohesive zone model was used to model the delamination of unidirectional composite laminates under short-beam bending. Composites with various interlaminar properties were manufactured using autoclave under cure pressure from 0 MPa to 0.6 MPa. Cohesive zone model was validated using the material parameters of the composite cured under 0.6 MPa. The effect of cohesive zone model parameters including cohesive strength, mode I fracture toughness ([Formula: see text]), and mode II fracture toughness ([Formula: see text]) on the delamination behavior and load–displacement response was investigated. Parametric study shows that interlaminar cohesive strength and mode II fracture toughness dominated the initiation of yield and post-yield region, respectively. The correlation between autoclave pressure and mode II fracture toughness was predicted, which is mainly affected by void content.


2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (8) ◽  
pp. 1732-1740 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.A. Almansour ◽  
H.N. Dhakal ◽  
Z.Y. Zhang ◽  
H. Ghasemnejad

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1881
Author(s):  
Kean Ong Low ◽  
Mahzan Johar ◽  
Haris Ahmad Israr ◽  
Khong Wui Gan ◽  
Seyed Saeid Rahimian Koloor ◽  
...  

This paper studies the influence of displacement rate on mode II delamination of unidirectional carbon/epoxy composites. End-notched flexure test is performed at displacement rates of 1, 10, 100 and 500 mm/min. Experimental results reveal that the mode II fracture toughness GIIC increases with the displacement, with a maximum increment of 45% at 100 mm/min. In addition, scanning electron micrographs depict that fiber/matrix interface debonding is the major damage mechanism at 1 mm/min. At higher speeds, significant matrix-dominated shear cusps are observed contributing to higher GIIC. Besides, it is demonstrated that the proposed rate-dependent model is able to fit the experimental data from the current study and the open literature generally well. The mode II fracture toughness measured from the experiment or deduced from the proposed model can be used in the cohesive element model to predict failure. Good agreement is found between the experimental and numerical results, with a maximum difference of 10%. The numerical analyses indicate crack jump occurs suddenly after the peak load is attained, which leads to the unstable crack propagation seen in the experiment.


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