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Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology JANUARY 2001, Vol. 123 139
Copyright 2001 by ASME
of 0.1. Two types of tests were conducted. The first type consisted
of cyclic loading 10 Hz at three constant load levels correspond- seems to suffice to describe the onset of the matrix cracks, with
ing to maximum stresses of 0.9 t , t , and 1.18 t , where t is the exponent 0.3 to 0.4. Load level seems to play a part in
the threshold stress for the onset of matrix cracking under quasi- dictating the number of cycles required for the initiation of matrix
static loading. The second type involved a controlled cyclic load- cracks in a particular ply. When the load range is increased toward
ing at varied load levels and at lower frequencies 5 Hz. This the fracture load of the laminate 300 MPa, cracks are expected
latter procedure allows the evolution of matrix cracks in 45 as to grow instantaneously in all plies.
well as 90 deg layers to be recorded. The development of matrix This stage of crack growth also includes the initial transient
cracks was monitored and photographed at regular intervals using crack growth, typically when the crack length is less than double
transmitted light and crack lengths were subsequently obtained the ply thickness. Crack growth rates are amorphous as a result of
from the photographs. Full details of laminate fabrication and me- strong influence of local heterogeneity.
chanical testing procedures are given elsewhere Tong et al. 7. Steady-State Crack Growth SSCG. Transient crack
Experimental Observations. Fatigue crack growth pattern in growth appeared to prevail after the crack length became about
a quasi-isotropic laminate is illustrated in Fig. 1. During the first double the 90 deg ply thickness. Further crack growth became
type of tests, matrix cracks in 90 deg plies developed from both essentially stable with the crack growth rates remained fairly con-
edges of the specimen and grew stably across both the thickness stant under constant load. Presented in Fig. 4 are experimental
and the width of the specimen. Transient crack growth prevailed results where individual 90 and 45 deg crack lengths are re-
initially until the crack length became about double the 90 deg ply corded as a function of fatigue cycles. Figure 4a shows the crack
thickness. Further crack growth became steady-state in nature. growth pattern of three transverse cracks. Under the constant load
Crack growth rates remained approximately constant as long as 71 MPa, R0.1, the crack growth rates remained constant
the distance between the cracks was sufficiently large compared at 5.2107 m/cycle. Deviations from linearity occurred when
with the ply thickness. Cracks in the adjacent plies, 45 deg, cracks from opposite edges overlap at a reduced crack spacing,
started to grow from the edges of the existing 90 deg cracks typically S5d, where d is the ply thickness and S is the vertical
shortly after the transverse cracking. These cracks grew to a high
density but remained generally small. Cracks in the 45 deg layers
developed at a later stage and grew stably along the fiber direc-
tion. Cracks in all plies increased their densities with the increase
of fatigue cycles but only the transverse cracks reached saturation
when local delamination occurred. The number of fatigue cycles
required for the onset of cracking in each ply varies significantly
with the applied stress level. Fatigue cycling clearly favored ma-
trix cracking as cracks were initiated at a stress level 10 percent
lower than the threshold stress under quasi-static loading Tong
et al. 7.
Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology JANUARY 2001, Vol. 123 141
dC 1 g 1 g
sin i dS i sin j dS j
dA dA i Si dA j S j
1 g
sin k dS k . . . , (3)
dA k Sk
where is the angle between the fiber and the loading axis. As-
suming that the cracks constantly rearrange to the new crack spac-
ing and grow across the width and the thickness of the specimen
simultaneously, then
dA n L 1
1
2S n 2S n1
dW (4)
Acknowledgments
Most of the experimental work and part of FE work were car-
ried out while the author was with the Department of Materials
Science and Engineering, University of Surrey, U.K. as part of a
EPSRC funded project. The author wishes to acknowledge the
technical discussions with Drs. P. A. Smith, S. L. Ogin, and F. J.
Guild while she was at Surrey.
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Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology JANUARY 2001, Vol. 123 143