Influence of out-of-plane fiber waviness and different environmental conditionings on mechanical and morphological characteristics of fiber glass/epoxy laminates

The use of structural polymeric composites constitutes an interesting option in the area of wind turbine blade manufacturing. Nevertheless, thick composite components may present out-of-plane waviness in their fibers, compromising the service life of the wind blades. In this context, the present study aims to study the influence of out-of-plane waviness in the fibers with different degrees of severity as well as to verify the effect of fiber glass/epoxy resin composites immersion in distilled water and saline solution in their tensile strength (σmax), modulus of elasticity (E), and deformation at break (єrup), analyzing the reinforcement/matrix interface changes. The results showed that the increase in severity promoted, in general, a statistically significant deterioration in σmax of the samples exposed to the same environmental conditioning. The conditioning led to a decrease in E and an increase in єrup, attributed to the deterioration of the interface and the plasticization of the polymeric matrix, respectively, as evidenced by fractographic analysis. The effect of severity on the єrup and σmax properties was only noticed in laminates exposed to environmental conditioning, due to water sorption favoring the deterioration of the matrix/reinforcement interface, intensifying the deleterious effect of out-of-plane waviness of fibers.

The wavenumber imaging of fiber waviness in hybrid glass–carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite plates

Out-of-plane waviness is one of the most common defects which degenerates the strength, stiffness, and fatigue life of hybrid glass–carbon fiber–reinforced polymer composites (FRPs). An accurate and high-speed non-destructive testing method is highly desired for large composite structures in industries. Ultrasonic phased array is a great candidate for such application. This paper applies the wavenumber algorithm to image the waviness in hybrid FRP plates which are a multi-layered medium. The central frequency of 5 MHZ is chosen in order to maximize the ply resonance. Transducers are migrated virtually to each interface between glass and carbon plies in order to overcome the difficulty of wave propagation analysis in such multi-layered system. The wavenumber algorithm demonstrates a better computational performance compared to that of the traditional total focusing method (TFM) in time domain up to 6 times. The glass ply depth and waviness angle can be more accurately presented with relative errors less than 1.5% and 14.8%, respectively. In addition, the resin-rich defect characterization is also achievable with a maximum error of 14.4%.

Experimental and Numerical Study on the Compressive Failure of Composite Laminates with Fiber Waviness Defects

Fiber waviness defects are found in the inner surface of the hat-shaped stringers manufactured by a process system. In order to establish the acceptance criterion for the stringers with the fiber waviness defects, experimental testing and numerical simulation were carried out in this study. Specially induced fiber waviness defects of four pre-defined severity levels were manufactured and tested. A maximum of a 58.1% drop in compressive failure load is observed for the most severe level in the experimental results. A finite element model with progressive damage method and cohesive zone technique was developed to simulate the failure process and the impact of fiber waviness defects. The numerical simulation results of compressive failure load have a good agreement with experimental results qualitatively and quantitatively. In addition, two simple parameters, i.e., aspect ratio A/H and the number of plies with fiber waviness, are proposed to characterize the influence of the fiber waviness on the compressive failure load for the purpose of fast engineering quality checks.

EFFICIENT NUMERICAL ANALYSIS BASED ON PERTURBATION METHOD FOR THE EFFECT OF WAVINESS IN CFRP

The paper proposes a numerical multiscale homogenization method for carbon fiber reinforced composites, where fiber alignment is disturbed due to unintended imperfections (fiber waviness). Imperfection is introduced as input to the calculation, and the calculation is always done using idealized perfect geometry. This has a distinct advantage in numerical calculations where the same mesh can be used for a series of imperfect geometries. The calculation is based on second-order perturbation method in order to capture the anisotropy which is the feature of CFRP. The proposed method is validated by comparing the results to those of a conventional calculation. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can accurately capture the stress distribution when the amplitude of the imperfection is small.

An experimental approach to reproduce in-plane fiber waviness in thermoplastic composites test coupons using a reverse forming method

In-plane fiber waviness is one of the defects that can occur from the stamp-forming process of thermoplastic composite (TPC) parts. The influence of this defect on the mechanical performance of multidirectional composites is not yet fully understood. The main challenge in determining the influence on mechanical properties lies in reproducing the waviness in test coupons that can subsequently be subjected to testing. This paper describes an experimental approach to reproduce representative in-plane waviness defects, specific for TPC, by reverse-forming of V-shape parts of various bend angles and inner radii. Characterization results show that this method enables the manufacturing of localized in-plane waviness in flat 24-ply quasi-isotropic C/PEEK composites with no voids. Furthermore, laminates having varying levels of maximum waviness angle ([Formula: see text]), between 14° to 64°, were successfully produced in this work. By comparing the [Formula: see text] value with the examples of industrial stamp-formed parts, it can be concluded that the developed coupon manufacturing method can reproduce waviness from TPC part production reasonably well. Finally, all of the produced laminates have defective region lengths smaller than 20 mm, localized within a predefined location which makes them well suited for standard compression test coupons.