The high strain rate tension behaviour of pseudo-ductile high performance thin ply composites

Fotouhi, Mohammad; Fuller, Jonathan; Longana, Marco; Jalalvand, Meisam; Wisnom, Michael R.

Abstract

In this study the effect of strain rate in tension on two different types of thin-ply pseudo-ductile laminates is reported. These comprised Unidirectional (UD) and quasi-isotropic (QI) hybrids made from low strain thin-ply carbon/epoxy and high strain glass/epoxy prepreg and all-carbon laminates made from thin-ply [±ϴ/0]s laminates referred to as angle-ply (AP) composites. Laminates were designed and subjected to a range of cross-head speeds from 2 mm/min (0.0003 s-1) to 10 m/s (100 s-1). The designed laminates were made from single or hybrids of low strain and high strain unidirectional prepregs, i.e. thin-ply Carbon/epoxy and Glass/epoxy, respectively. Dynamic stress–strain plots and details of the damage mechanisms were obtained for each sample and compared with the quasi-static test results. The investigated thin-ply UD and QI hybrid composite laminates showed excellent pseudo-ductility at different strain rates, whereas the AP laminates were strain rate dependent and pseudo-ductility decreased with increasing strain rate.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 18, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Feb 19, 2019
• Publication Date: May 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Feb 18, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 20, 2020
• Journal: Composite Structures
• Print ISSN: 0263-8223
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 215
• Pages: 365-376
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2019.02.068
• Keywords: pseudo-ductility, hybrid, quasi-isotropic, angle-ply, high strain rate, thin-ply
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/847475
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2019.02.068
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published version is available here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2019.02.068
• Contract Date: Feb 18, 2019