Effect of out-of-plane wrinkles in curved multi-directional carbon/epoxy laminates

Xu, Xiaodong; Jones, Mike I.; Ali, Hafiz; Wisnom, Michael R.; Hallett, Stephen R.

Abstract

Defects such as out-of-plane wrinkles are known to strongly affect in-plane strength but there has been very little research on their effect on out-of-plane properties. Experimental and numerical studies of multi-directional curved-beam laminates were thus carried out to understand the effects of out-of-plane wrinkles on through-thickness tensile strength. The initially selected layup saw free-edge delamination interacting with transverse cracking, which is undesirable. After suppressing the free-edge delamination by dispersing the plies near the specimen surfaces, through-thickness tensile failure was observed near the mid-plane. The effects of out-of-plane wrinkles could be studied with this appropriate layup, showing a 16% reduction in strength. A High-fidelity Finite Element Method (Hi-FEM) has been used to distinguish between the different failure modes and to understand the effects of wrinkles. Good agreement was achieved between the numerical and experimental results in terms of through-thickness tensile strengths and delamination locations.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 4, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jun 10, 2020
• Publication Date: Sep 8, 2020
• Deposit Date: Feb 15, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 11, 2021
• Journal: Composites Science and Technology
• Print ISSN: 0266-3538
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-1050
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 197
• Article Number: 108282
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2020.108282
• Keywords: General Engineering; Ceramics and Composites; Defects; Delamination; Finite element analysis (FEA); Transverse cracking
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7094444
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Effect of out-of-plane wrinkles in curved multi-directional carbon/epoxy laminates; Journal Title: Composites Science and Technology; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2020.108282; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.