Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596

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Residual stresses in thermoplastic composites – a study

of the literature. Part III: Effects of thermal residual stresses
Patricia P. Parlevliet *, Harald E.N. Bersee *, Adriaan Beukers
Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Kluyverweg 1, 2629 HS Delft, The Netherlands

Received 28 July 2006; received in revised form 23 December 2006; accepted 29 December 2006

Abstract

This paper is the third part in a series of review papers on residual stresses in thermoplastic composites. The first two parts were ded-
icated to the formation of thermal residual stresses and experimental techniques to detect these stresses, respectively. This third paper
discusses the effects that thermal residual stresses have on the material properties of thermoplastic composites. Composite laminates
as well as composite structures were considered.
Residual stresses were found to affect the composites’ matrix-dominated, mechanical and durability properties, as well as to inflict
damage and dimensional instability. Several mechanisms to relieve thermal residual stresses are proposed.
Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: A. Polymer matrix composites (PMCs); A. Thermoplastic resin; B. Defects; B. Mechanical properties; B. Fibre/matrix bond; B. Stress
relaxation; B. Environmental degradation; E. Filament winding

1. Introduction gue and compression. Again, in the early nineties [4], it

This study forms part of an extensive literature survey
on residual stresses in continuous fibre reinforced thermo-
plastic composites (TPCs). The first two parts described the
mechanisms for formation of thermal residual stresses dur-
ing processing and experimental techniques for determina-
tion of these stresses [1,2]. This third part gives an overview
of the studies that were published in the public literature on
the effects that thermal residual stresses have on the com-
posites’ properties, such as mechanical properties.
The first to study residual stresses in TPCs, Nairn and
Zoller in 1985 [3], merely speculated what the effects of
residual stresses could be on the composite properties.
They expected that any composite property depending on
a matrix property that is affected by stress will be affected
by the presence of (thermal) residual stresses. Such proper-
ties include sensitivity to solvents, impact toughness, fati-
*
Corresponding authors. Tel.: +31 15 2788175; fax: +31 15 2781151.
E-mail addresses: P.P.Parlevliet@TUDelft.nl (P.P. Parlevliet), H.E.N.
Bersee@TUDelft.NL (H.E.N. Bersee).
was argued that the effects of the large residual stresses gen-
erated in the processing of high performance TPCs need to
be understood, and influences on final properties, quality
and durability1 of the manufactured products need to be
studied [5–7]. Since then, many researchers made an effort
to investigate this line of research, such as Nairn and
Gillespie et al. [8–10]. This literature study tries to gather
and describe the results of these studies and an attempt
was made to identify the knowledge gaps in this field.
This review will start with the discussion of the residual
stress effects on the matrix-dominated composite proper-
ties, followed by a description of the effects occurring at
the fibre–matrix interface. Residual stress-induced defects
and the effects on the mechanical properties of composite
laminates are elaborated on, after which effects in compos-
ite structures are explained and mechanisms for relief of
residual stresses in TPC composites are proposed. First
however, a small summary is given on the mechanisms
1
Here, durability is defined as long-term behaviour, including environ-
mental effects.

1359-835X/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2006.12.005
1582 P.P. Parlevliet et al. / Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596
for thermal residual stress formation in thermoplastic com-
posites (TPCs) to provide the reader with some useful
background information. For more information, the reader
is referred to part I of this series, see Ref. [1]. In part I,
three mechanical levels of residual stress formation were
identified: micromechanical residual stresses (resulting
from the shrinkage mismatch between the matrix and the
fibre), interlaminar residual stresses (resulting from ply
anisotropy in angle-ply composites) and residual stress gra-
dients through the thickness (resulting from gradients in
cooling rate, material density, thermal gradients, etc.). This
nomenclature is maintained in this part.
The prime factors for thermal residual stress formation
in TPCs are the mismatch in shrinkage2 between the matrix
and the fibre during cooling from the processing tempera-
ture (more precisely, the stress-free temperature3), and
the ability of the matrix to relax these stresses. In compos-
ites with an amorphous matrix a higher cooling rate yields
higher residual stresses. For semi-crystalline thermoplastic
composites, the magnitude of residual stresses depends on
the crystallisation kinetics. The sign and magnitude of the
stresses depend on many factors, such as level of fibre–
matrix adhesion, fibre volume fraction, number of plies,
ply lay-up and processing conditions, such as thermal gra-
dients during cooling and mould material [1]. On top of
this, residual stresses interact with the time-dependent (vis-
coelastic) behaviour of the matrix as well as environmental
effects.
2. Residual stress effects on the matrix-dominated properties
Due to the mismatch in shrinkage between the fibre and
the matrix, the matrix will generally experience a state of
thermal residual tensile strain [1]. Locally, the magnitude
and even sign of this strain may vary due to variations in
fibre volume fraction [1,12,13]. Depending on the factors
mentioned in Section 1, the matrix throughout the compos-
ite structure will experience a complex strain field. Many
micromechanical models have been developed to predict
the magnitude of these strains [3,12,14–18], even in the
presence of fibre waviness [19]. It proved difficult to exper-
imentally determine the magnitude of thermal residual
strains experienced by the matrix in a composite laminate
[2] and therefore it is difficult to attribute residual stress
effects on the matrix properties.
It is possible however, to assess the residual stress effects
on matrix-dominated properties of composites, such as
moisture absorption and temperature resistance.
2
It must be noted that thermal expansion and contraction (shrinkage)
are relative terms, and imply change of dimensions from those at room
temperature and the processing temperature, respectively [11].
3
Stress-free temperature: temperature at which thermal stresses start
building up. This temperature was found to coincide with the glass
transition temperature for amorphous composites, and the crystallisation
peak temperature for semi-crystalline thermoplastic composites [1].
These properties are significantly affected by residual
stresses. For example, the state of stress of the in situ resin
can be a source for variations in the glass transition tem-
perature [20]. Compressive loading (including hydrostatic
pressure) increases the Tg and shear and tensile loading
decrease it [20]. This may be of importance, since the onset
of the glass transition temperature (Tg) may represent the
upper limit of use-temperature for polymers and its com-
posites in structural applications [21–23]. D’Amore et al.,
as well as our group [unpublished results], found a lower
Tg for carbon fibre reinforced polyetherimide (PEI) when
compared to pure PEI using differential scanning calorim-
etry (DSC), which D’Amore et al. attributed to the pres-
ence of the carbon fibres and the accompanying residual
stresses. D’Amore et al. found a Tg depression of 30 °C
for an 8-ply quasi-isotropic laminate, whereas our group
found a depression of only 6 °C for a 3-ply cross-ply lam-
inate, which corresponds to a residual stress state of
42 MPa [24]. This Tg difference of 6 °C was consistent
for several heating rates.
At increased temperatures, the residual stresses them-
selves will be lower, due to a smaller difference between
the stress-free temperature and measuring temperature
and thermal expansion of the matrix [13,24–26]. For sev-
eral thermoplastic composites the relation between temper-
ature and residual stresses was found to be almost linear
[27–29]. Matrix-dominated moisture absorption was also
found to affect the residual stress state of the polymer com-
posite significantly [7,26,30–42]. Several effects may occur:
(a) swelling of the matrix that leads to a changing stress
state; (b) plasticisation of the polymer by the moisture
resulting in a lower glass transition temperature [22,32–
34,36,38,40,43,44]; (c) moisture may affect the fibre–matrix
interphase [45]; and (d) internal stresses influence the mois-
ture uptake: the higher the residual stresses, the higher the
moisture uptake [34,46]. In pure polymers, it was shown
that the rate of moisture uptake is accelerated under tensile
loads [34].
Due to the time-dependent (viscoelastic) nature of
the polymer matrix (and possibly also the fibre–matrix
interphase), thermal residual stresses themselves prove
to be time-dependent, viz. the matrix shows stress or
strain relaxation or creep behaviour over time [13,21,24,
28–30,38,43,53–55]. When exposed to a certain (constant)
load, a polymer shows an increase in strain of the polymer
matrix. Or vice versa; stress within a polymer resulting
from a certain strain, is found to decrease with time
due to molecular relaxation processes that take place
within the polymer [44,56]. Higher residual stresses result
in a higher rate of relaxation. Environmental aspects, such
as temperature and moisture, influence this relaxation
behaviour. For increased temperatures, the relaxation rate
of the residual stresses is higher [38,57,58] as well as the
total relaxation [29], or in other words, the further the
temperature below the glass transition temperature or
stress-free temperature is, the longer the relaxation time
[20,59].
 P.P. Parlevliet et al. / Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596
Experimental studies have shown that residual stresses
in composites arisen during manufacturing may decrease
significantly during storage under ambient hygrothermal
conditions (room temperature 23 °C and 50% relative
humidity) [3,13,24,53]. Experimental observations of were
often carried out by following the curvature of non-
symmetrical laminates, either forced flat to simulate the
residual stresses in a symmetrical laminate [24,28,29], or
unrestrained [53]. It was mentioned that room tempera-
ture curvature of unbalanced laminates decreased with
time due to relaxation of residual stresses [28,53,60],
and that the relaxation of residual stresses between
fabrication and testing is not negligible for high levels
of residual stress [24]. Residual stresses were found to
relax to limited or asymptotic values, which results in
a state where the remaining residual stresses still have
a significant influence on the mechanical properties
[28,30,60].
In addition to relaxation of the thermal stresses, another
time-dependent mechanism affects the matrix-dominated
composite properties: the effect of ageing of the matrix
[61]. When an amorphous polymer (or the amorphous
phase of a semi-crystalline polymer) is cooled below its
glass transition temperature, a glassy solid is obtained with
the polymer chains in a state of thermodynamic non-equi-
librium [20,30]. Physical ageing will occur when a polymer
(matrix) is cooled below its Tg, and the material evolves
towards thermodynamic equilibrium. This evolution is
characterised by changes in the free volume, enthalpy and
entropy of the polymer and will produce measurable
changes over time of increasing modulus and yield strength
and lower toughness [20,59], thereby increasing the likeli-
hood for failure initiation [62]. Due to physical ageing,
the process of viscoelastic stress relaxation becomes much
slower [21,59]. In pure polymers, the residual stresses in
turn were found to affect viscoelastic and physical ageing
behaviour [63]. Temperature and processing history have
a strong influence on the rate of physical ageing, i.e. at
higher temperatures (below Tg), the rate of physical ageing
is higher [38]. Therefore for slow cooling rates, the ageing
effects are larger [64].
It may be concluded that the age of the composite
matrix works in two ways: one is the physical ageing effect,
and the other is relaxation of the prestressed state of the
polymer matrix in a composite [65]. In addition, the envi-
ronment plays a significant role in these mechanisms. Iso-
thermal ageing or hygrothermal ageing (holding a certain
temperature and relative humidity for a longer period of
time) interacts with residual stresses: oxidation of the poly-
mer matrix in an oxygen-rich environment can make the
matrix brittle, resulting in decreasing composite properties
or damage initiation [47,48], see Section 4.2. Isothermal
ageing was found to result in an increase of Tg or stress-free
temperature [46,47,49–51], whereas relatively inert environ-
ments were shown to degrade the polymer composite prop-
erties to a lesser extent [46,47,50,51]. In addition, effects of
thermal residual stresses in composites laminates when sub-
1583
jected to fire conditions were modelled and found to be sig-
nificant [52].
Excellent and extensive reviews have been published on
viscoelastic behaviour in polymer matrix composites in
relation with residual stresses, physical ageing and environ-
ment, and the reader is referred to these references for more
background information on the exact mechanisms and
modelling of this behaviour [21,30,38,66,67]. These papers
emphasize that viscoelastic and ageing effects are of great
importance when predicting the durability of composites,
including the mechanical properties and damage initiation
over time [30,43,67].
3. Effects occurring at the fibre–matrix interface
In thermoset composites, the fibre–matrix interface is
formed with chemical bonds, whereas in thermoplastic
composites the fibre–matrix adhesion primarily occurs
due to the shrinkage of the matrix around the fibre and
thereby increasing the Van der Waals bonds between the
fibre and the matrix [24]. As outlined in the first part of
the literature study, the fibre–matrix interfacial bond
strength is of influence on the magnitude of residual stres-
ses. However, the residual stresses in turn influence the
fibre–matrix interfacial shear strength beneficially. It was
found that with increasing radial residual stresses the
fibre–matrix interfacial bond became stronger, due to
mechanical locking [68–72]. However, fibre–matrix interfa-
cial debonding parallel to the fibre-axis may occur due to
residual stresses alone, if the (chemical) fibre–matrix bond
strength is too weak [55,73].
In addition, the contribution of transcrystalline layers to
residual stress formation was mentioned [1]. Some research-
ers propose that this transcrystalline layer can be an effect
of residual stresses. In semi-crystalline composites such as
carbon fibre reinforced polyetheretherketone (PEEK), it is
suggested that the mismatch in thermal shrinkage behav-
iour between the matrix and the fibre can cause strain-
induced crystallisation [70,74,75]. This was explained as
follows [74]: when strong anchorage of the polymer molec-
ular chains on the fibre surface is present due to chemical
bonding, the thermal stress can induce orientation of chain
segments in the bulk polymer. This in turn may facilitate
bulk nucleation, which accelerates crystallisation [76,77].
Also, a difference in glass transition temperature (Tg) as
measured with dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA) was
observed in unidirectional AS4 carbon fibre reinforced
PEEK samples with respect to the fibre orientation. A sug-
gestion was made that this can be due to an orientation
effect of the amorphous regions, induced by the presence
of the fibres [11]. However, the exact mechanisms remain
to be understood.
With respect to the reinforcing fibres; in general they are
of such strength, that residual stresses will cause no signif-
icant property changes. However, in most cases the fibres
experience a compressive thermal residual strain, a load
case for which the fibres where not designed. The fibres
1584 P.P. Parlevliet et al. / Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596
may be experiencing such a high load in the fibre direc-
tions, that fibre fragmentation can occur due to residual
stresses alone [78].
4. Residual stress-induced defects
Residual stresses can cause several defects in composite
laminates and structures. Defects that are considered here
are: Fibre and tow misalignment [19,79], transverse crack-
ing, delamination and warpage.
4.1. Fibre waviness
When during the processing phase of composite prod-
ucts, the fibres experience axial loads, such as thermal
residual stresses, while the matrix is unable to provide some
level of transverse fibre support, the fibres will deform
(microbuckle) and waviness will develop [80]. This mecha-
nism was modelled by Bhalerao [80]. Fibre waviness in uni-
directional laminates can be defined as fibres deviating
from the mean direction of the laminate and forming a pat-
tern that is often represented mathematically as a sine
wave, see Fig. 1. Kugler and Moon [79] showed that deve-
lopment of fibre waviness in carbon fibre/polysulfone com-
posites is affected most by tool plate material (most notably
the difference in CTE between the tool and the composite
part), and also by cooling rate and length. In part I of this
literature study, it was shown that cooling rate and tool–
part interaction play a significant role in the formation of
residual stresses [1]. Therefore, it may be concluded that
one of the effects of residual stresses is fibre waviness.
Besides tool–part CTE mismatch, sufficiently high temper-
ature gradients that are present through the thickness of
the laminate can cause fibre waviness [81]. Fibre waviness
can degrade the compressive strength [82–84] as well as
other aspects of the material performance, such as overall
part quality [19,79]. In addition, it was found by modelling
that fibre waviness can possibly enhance the buckling load
[85,86], and it was found to have a moderate effect on the
thermal expansion of the laminate [19]. A comprehensive
review of the published literature regarding this matter is
given in Ref. [79].
Fig. 1. Micrograph of a composite laminate showing fibre waviness.
4.2. Transverse cracking
Thermal residual stresses can initiate transverse cracking
(often referred to as microcracking) of a composite lami-
nate. One mechanism for damage initiation is that the ther-
mal residual stress in the matrix exceeds the yield strength of
the resin and/or the fibre–matrix bond strength and causes
matrix cracking or fibre–matrix debonding [14,24,87,88].
When the fibre–matrix interface bond is weak, cracks can
propagate along the interface. When a strong interface is
present, cracks may propagate into the matrix [89]. The
fibre–matrix debonds can join, via matrix cracking in
between the debonds, and in this manner a microcrack
may form [24,90], see Fig. 2. Microcracks may be readily
visible (in transparent composites) or they may be still quite
small and as such provide failure initiation sites in subse-
quent service life. Observed failure mechanisms are trans-
verse ply cracking, subsequent delamination between an
off-axis ply and an adjacent ply [12,91,92] and eventually
failure of the laminate [92–94], such as longitudinal splitting
[91]. Microcracks are of importance most notably during
cyclic (fatigue) loading [7,91,94–97]. Summarising, several
stages of transverse cracking can be identified:
1. Fibre–matrix debonding/matrix cracking.
2. Growing of matrix cracks/fibre–matrix debonds to form
microcracks.
3. Microcracks may grow into transverse ply cracks.
4. Transverse ply cracks form initiations to delamination
and subsequent failure of the laminate.
These stages may take place over time, during the ser-
vice life. However, the thermal residual stresses can reach
values of the same order as the transverse ply strength,
which may cause the ply to crack prematurely and almost
instantaneous during processing [3,28,58,98,99], see
Fig. 2. Crack initiation along fibre–matrix interfaces in a carbon fibre
polyphenylenesulfide laminate.
 P.P. Parlevliet et al. / Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596
Fig. 3. Transverse cracks in surface plies of 03/909/03 carbon fibre
polyetherimide laminate.
Fig. 3. This was shown to depend on, among others, ply
thickness [1,91,96,100]. Often the cracks initiate in the
vicinity of free edges where residual stresses can be very
high locally [91,96,101–103]. The cracks can run perpendic-
ular or parallel to the composite plane, although the per-
pendicular cracks are observed most often. The strength
and toughness of the matrix, and the fibre–matrix interfa-
cial shear strength need to be sufficient to prevent cracking
from happening. Most brittle (often thermoset) matrices
show transverse cracks during curing [89]. In general,
higher interlaminar residual stresses result in a higher
microcrack density within the composite [91,96,104–106].
As a consequence, a lower microcrack initiation strain
was reported for lower temperatures (as determined with
acoustic emission) due to the presence of higher residual
stresses [1,23,67,107,108]. Other environmental factors also
contribute to crack formation in relation with residual
stresses: As mentioned in Section 2, (hygro)thermal
treatment, but also thermal cycling may affect the polymer
properties, i.e. toughness, in such a way that micro-
cracks can form due to residual stresses alone [31,45,96].
The following environmental treatments were found to
increase the crack density of thermoplastic compos-
ites: thermal cycling [35,45,109–112], hygrothermal treat-
ment [31–33,45,88], hygrothermal cycling [36,45], ageing
[7,31,35,91,113], UV radiation [7], and thermal spiking
[45]. A review on cracking of polymer composites due to
thermal cycling in combination with residual stresses was
given by Hancox [114].
In addition, residual stresses may cause a greater suscep-
tibility to solvents, leading to (environmental) stress crack-
ing, which was reported for several thermoplastic
composites [7,10,115,116].
Many studies were carried out on the formation and
effects of microcracks in composites on which excellent
reviews were published [91,96]. In addition, various analyt-
ical models were developed, from which crack formation
due to thermal residual stresses or due to external loading
in the presence of residual stresses can be predicted [117–
121].
1585
4.2.1. Effects of transverse cracks
Cracking of the laminate provides an irreversible means
for relief/relaxation of the thermal residual stresses by
redistribution of the stresses [24,55,106,110,122]. One effect
of this redistribution due to crack formation is a change
(decrease) in the effective thermal expansion coefficient of
the composite [109,117,123]. In addition, the transverse
cracks were reported to affect several composite properties:
– Lower composite stiffnesses [91,96,124,125] and elastic
moduli were observed [67,88,126,127], which was found
to be most significant for a quasi-isotropic lay-up [126].
– The flexural modulus was found to decrease with
increasing microcrack density [111,128].
– A reduced in-plane shear strength and modulus [88,129].
– Lower transverse mechanical properties [45,130]:
strengths are reduced as a consequence of matrix crack-
ing in the off-axis plies [126].
– A decrease of the Poisson’s ratio [117,124,131].
– Lower values for Modes I and II interlaminar fracture
toughness were observed [23,105,117].
– Transverse cracks can act as initiation sites for delami-
nation during fatigue loading [91,96,124].
– Increased deformation during creep loading [104].
– Enhanced moisture absorption by providing diffusion
paths [32,37,40–42,93].
– Lower environmental (chemical) resistance [36,41,42];
providing entry for corrosive liquids [96].
– In addition, matrix cracking decreases the transverse
electrical conductivity of carbon fibre reinforced lami-
nates [132].
No effect of microcracks was found on the open hole
compression properties of composites [111]. To the best
of the authors’ knowledge, no results have been reported
for the relation between residual stress-induced micro-
cracks and impact properties of composites, even though
an extensive review on impact resistance of composites
was published by Cantwell and Morton [133].
Microcrack formation in thermoplastic composites
directly after processing was reported for:
– T300 carbon fibre fabric reinforced polyphenylenesul-
fide (PPS) [129],
– filament-wound/tape-layed AS4 carbon fibre reinforced
polyetheretherketone (PEEK) ring stiffened cylinders
[134],
– cross-ply T300 carbon fibre reinforced polyethylene-
terephthalate (PET) laminates [135],
– cross-ply IM6 carbon fibre reinforced PEEK laminates
[104],
– hybrid cross-ply AS4 carbon fibre (50%)/E-glass fibre
(50%) reinforced PPS laminates [126],
– cross-ply T300 carbon and glass fibre reinforced poly-
etherimide (PEI) laminates [24],
– unsymmetrical cross-ply AS4 carbon fibre reinforced
amorphous polyimide laminates [106],
1586 P.P. Parlevliet et al. / Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596
– unsymmetrical cross-ply AS4 carbon fibre reinforced
PEEK laminates [110], and in
– plain woven glass fibre reinforced PET commingled fab-
ric [105].
No crack formation due to residual thermal stresses were
reported for cross-ply carbon fibre reinforced polyamide 12
laminates [136], nor for toughened grade glass fibre rein-
forced PPS laminates [88]. For the latter, this was attributed
to a stronger fibre–matrix interface and higher strain-
to-failure of matrix. Also, no microcracks were observed
in filament-wound glass fibre reinforced polypropylene
(PP) and carbon fibre reinforced PEEK parts [137–139],
although they were visible in thick cylinders [134]. A crack
arresting effect was noticed when glass fibres were incorpo-
rated in a carbon fibre reinforced hybrid laminate [126].
Crack formation was also found due to annealing of
quenched cross-ply carbon fibre reinforced PPS and T300
carbon fibre fabric reinforced PPS laminates [88,129].
Due to annealing, the density and crystallinity increased,
resulting in enhanced matrix resin shrinkage and hence
higher residual stresses [1]. This effect was more significant
for the surface plies where the microcracks were observed.
This can be explained by the notion that after quenching, a
crystallinity gradient through the thickness existed with a
lower degree of crystallinity in the surface plies. After
annealing, the crystallinity was maximum everywhere,
meaning that in the surface plies relatively more shrinkage
had taken place due to a higher increase in crystallinity
level. The crack density increased with increasing annealing
temperature and the shear modulus decreased accordingly.
4.3. Delamination
The discontinuity in residual stress level between the 0°
and 90° plies in a cross-ply laminate is found to be evident,
which could lead to premature delamination (interlaminar
debonding) in service [136]. Therefore, consolidation (and
hence the pressure and temperature) of the cross-ply lami-
nate needs to be adequate [132,140]. Interlaminar failure is
characterised by progressive delamination of plies of a
composite laminate, leading to a loss of stiffness and
strength of the structure [141].
One of the mentioned mechanisms in literature that is
responsible for delamination is the ‘free-edge effect’, which
can also cause matrix cracking (Section 4.2). Free-edge
delamination is associated with the high interlaminar stres-
ses developed due to property discontinuities through the
thickness at a free edge [141–143]. It can occur around
any geometric stress concentration arising due to holes,
cut-outs or changes in section, and this severely limits the
load carrying capabilities of the entire structure [144,145].
4.4. Warpage of laminates
One of the effects of interlaminar residual stresses, is that
for relatively thin unsymmetrical laminates, a variety of
curved shapes can be the result (warpage) [12,54,106,146].
Curvature measurements are extensively used for determi-
nation of residual stresses in corresponding symmetrical
cross-ply laminates or to verify differences in residual stress
level due to varying processing conditions [2]. A steady
decrease of warpage was observed with increasing temper-
ature due to a decrease in thermal residual stresses [106]. In
addition, even in thin non-symmetrical laminates, micro-
cracking may occur in the laminates, lowering the curva-
ture [24,106].
Non-symmetrical thermal residual stress gradients
through the thickness of a composite can result in deforma-
tion of a laminate (warpage) [147], or dimensional instabil-
ity of a composite structure. This can be the result of two
mechanisms: unbalanced cooling and tool–part interaction
[1]. Models have been developed for prediction of the stress
distribution through the thickness of composite plates and
structures, in the case of different temperatures on both
sides of the product in-service [148,149]. Trende [150] sim-
ulated the effect of one-sided cooling of a 3 mm thick GMT
laminate and found that the laminate would deform due to
unsymmetrical residual stresses, with the tension side being
the inner side of the curved laminate. For 20-ply glass fibre
reinforced PEI it was shown with thermoviscoelastic anal-
ysis as well as experiments that these curvatures due to
unbalanced residual stresses are more significant for the
matrix-dominated transverse direction in unidirectional
laminates [151]. For cross-ply laminates, the interlaminar
residual stresses were believed to have more impact on
the warpage than the through-the-thickness residual stres-
ses caused by the cooling profile [151].
Tool–part interaction was found to have a significant
contribution to warpage, especially for thin products. For
the process of rubber press forming, the difference in mould
materials (steel/rubber) was shown to cause significant
warpage due to a residual stress distribution [152]. How-
ever, the deformability (tool–part interaction) of the rubber
mould was shown to have a more significant effect on the
warpage of plates than the residual stresses due to thermal
gradients induced by the relative rapid cooling of the sur-
face plies.
In addition, a non-uniform temperature distribution in
press-plates or moulds may also induce warpage, see Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Distorted glass fibre fabric reinforced polyetherimide laminate
(CetexÒ) due to non-uniform cooling of the hot platen press.
 P.P. Parlevliet et al. / Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596
5. Residual stress effects on the mechanical properties
of laminates
When the residual stresses and the stresses resulting
from external loads are equal in sign, the maximum allow-
able external stress decreases. Therefore, it is important
that thermal residual stresses are taken into account in
the design of structures made of composite materials
[144]. For example, a residual stress distribution may influ-
ence fatigue behaviour as well as impact and fracture
toughness [10,141–143].
5.1. Tensile
In unidirectional (UD) prepregs or laminates, thermal
residual stresses often leave the matrix in a state of tension
in the direction parallel to the fibres (0°-direction) [3] and
the reinforcing fibres under compressive loading [1]. In
the radial or transverse direction (90°), depending on the
fibre volume fraction [7,12,17], the fibre and the matrix
experience similar stress states (compressive and tensile,
respectively) as in the 0°-direction. In general, the compres-
sive residual stresses in the fibres should result in an
increased tensile failure strain in the fibre direction [126].
With the aid of a micromechanical unit cell model and
finite element method, it was found that residual stresses
can be detrimental or beneficial for transverse tensile load-
ing in UD composites [18]. This depends on the residual
stress magnitude and the matrix material strength. How-
ever, from experiments on a unidirectional IM6 carbon
fibre reinforced PEEK laminate no effect of residual stress
was found on the transverse tensile response [104].
Another experimental study on UD composites showed
that when loaded in tension parallel to the fibre direction, a
significant variation in fibre strain was found in the com-
posites when compared to bare fibres loaded in air, which
was attributed to the internal (residual) stress field [89].
In a cross-ply laminate, thermal contraction of the plies
perpendicular to the fibre direction, creates a state of resid-
ual tensile stresses in the plies [1,28], of which the magni-
tude depends, among others, on the ply thickness [1,100].
When the cross-ply laminate is tension loaded in one direc-
tion, the tensile strength is measured to be lower than for
UD transverse tensile strengths. The difference between
these values provides an estimate for the interlaminar resid-
ual stresses [28,53,153]. Also differences in residual stresses
due to various cooling rates were shown to affect tensile
properties of cross-ply IM6 carbon fibre reinforced PEEK
composites [104].
In thick-section hybrid glass and carbon fibre reinforced
PPS composites the effect of thermal residual stresses was
found to be negligible in the tensile stress response [126].
As calculated with classical laminate theory (CLT), the
thermal residual stresses would result in an increase in
expected ultimate tensile strength. However, this increase
is very small for UD, cross-ply, and quasi-isotropic (QI)
1587
lay-up. No effect was found of the residual stresses on the
composite moduli.
A meso/micromechanical study of fibre reinforced poly-
mer matrix cross-ply laminates, showed that even after
relaxation, the remaining residual stresses still have a sig-
nificant influence on the damage evolution in cross-ply
laminates during following tensile loading [60].
5.2. Flexural
In a unidirectional glass fibre reinforced PP laminate,
the residual stresses were found to comprise between 37%
and 45% of the 90° flexural strength (26 MPa) [122]. For
these laminates, a higher cooling rate resulted in a lower
crystallinity level as well as higher residual stresses. (In part
I of this series, it was explained that for semi-crystalline
polymers [1], a competing effect exists between the visco-
elastic relaxation of the amorphous part of the matrix
and crystallisation shrinkage, hence it depends on the crys-
tallisation kinetics of the matrix whether a higher cooling
rate results in lower residual stresses or not.) This resulted
in a lower flexural strength also for 0° flexural loading.
5.3. Compression and shear
In most polymer composite laminates, the fibres will
experience compressive residual stresses [1], hence lowering
the compressive properties. Residual stresses were found to
be always harmful for transverse compressive loading [18].
As described in Section 4.1, fibre waviness can be regarded
as a defect that formed due to residual stresses. This was
shown to affect the compressive properties significantly
[82–84].
According to one reference, ‘‘in a compression test the
failure strain will decrease and for materials with different
tensile and compressive elastic moduli, the stiffness of the
composite will probably be affected by the thermal stres-
ses’’ [126]. Not many experimental studies are available
that substantiate this, probably because compressive test-
ing of composites is quite difficult to achieve [154].
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no studies have
been published that investigate the relation between shear
properties and residual stresses. However, it seems most
likely that interlaminar mechanical properties are affected
due to the discontinuity in the macroscopic stress field
between plies in angle-ply laminates.
5.4. Modes I and II fracture toughness
Many models were developed in order to predict the
influence the residual stresses had on mode I (interlaminar
delamination) and mode II (intralaminar) fracture tough-
ness properties [143,144,155–157]. For example, an exact
result for mode I energy release rate was derived for any
composite with residual stresses [117]. This analysis can
also be used for residual stresses originating from other fac-
tors than thermal effects.
1588 P.P. Parlevliet et al. / Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596
Most of the studies revealed that thermal residual stres-
ses must be taken into account when predicting fracture
toughness properties of composite laminates in order to
obtain agreement with the experimental results, since the
stresses significantly decrease the fracture toughness prop-
erties of a composite material [23,144]. For example, Nairn
[10,17,98,117,157–160] studied the effect of residual stresses
on the mode I energy release rate for double cantilever
beam (DCB) specimens and found that there is a significant
effect that needs to be taken into account, and he proposed
some experimental methods to correct for residual stresses
[157]. In order to understand what role residual stresses
play in composite toughness properties, Nairn [98] pro-
posed the hypothesis that the presence of residual stresses
could contribute to loss of toughness by providing a source
of thermal strain energy release during crack propagation.
However, it was found that the residual thermal stresses
did not have a significant effect on transverse fracture
properties of UD T300 carbon fibre polysulfone (PSF)
composites nor on delamination parallel to the fibres in
UD laminates [117]. The explanation was that residual
stresses are present in both fibres and matrix, but they
release no energy as the delamination propagates. The
effect of residual stresses that was found to be of
significance in DCB specimens is an external work effect
arising from thermally induced curvatures in the DCB
arms [10]. These curvatures may arise from interlaminar
residual stresses due to non-symmetric lay-up of the arms
as well as residual stresses through the thickness [9].
For example, a residual stress distribution developed in
40-ply unidirectional samples was found not to alter the
apparent interlaminar fracture toughness of AS4/PEEK
laminates [9], but in similar cross-ply samples, warpage of
the delaminated area was observed due to non-symmetry
of the arm.
Unless both arms in laminate DCB specimens experi-
ence a symmetric residual stress state themselves, the resid-
ual stress effect on the determined mode I fracture
toughness can be very significant, up to an error of 76%.
At free edges especially, predictions show that residual
stresses impose a reduction in mode I delamination
strength [143]. The strain energy release rate for modes I
and II interlaminar crack growth due to the free-edge effect
was predicted including the thermal strain effect [144].
(+352/ 352/02/902)s carbon fibre PEEK laminates were
studied. Interlaminar delamination due to the free-edge
effect was studied for the 90/90 interface and the 90/0 inter-
faces. The effects of thermal residual stresses were found to
be very significant for the total strain energy release rate
versus applied axial strain. It was calculated that the failure
strains when taking into account the residual stresses are
only 73% of the failure strains when residual stresses were
neglected during axial loading. For mixed mode I/II failure
strain the same trend was observed. It must be noted that
the ‘‘arms’’ of the two remaining laminates in this study
were not symmetrical, and hence may show curvature
due to the residual stresses, as Nairn pointed out. Another
study showed that the stress intensity factor was reduced
by residual stresses in a IM8 carbon fibre ITA (polyether-
sulfone, PES) laminate [156].
Experimental results are, although scarce, also available:
For AS4 carbon fibre PEEK laminates, it was found that
the mode I interlaminar fracture toughness (delamination
propagation) decreased by 35% due to interlaminar resid-
ual stresses in cross-ply laminates with respect to their
UD counterpart [9].
Quenching of glass fibre PET laminates, which induced
lower residual stresses, leads to greater values of interlam-
inar fracture toughness, whereas slow cooling, inducing
high residual stresses as well as high crystallinity levels,
reduces the resistance against crack propagation [105].
High crystallinity levels yielded higher microcrack densities
and more small voids, providing initiation paths for crack
growth.
For low temperatures, the intralaminar critical matrix
cracking strain (mode II) of UD and cross-ply IM7 carbon
fibre K3B (thermoplastic polyimide) laminates was quite
small due to high residual thermal stresses [23]. At interme-
diate temperatures, residual stresses diminished, and
matrix cracking strain increased.
Regarding impact toughness, delamination due to
impact was reported to be more severe in angle-ply lami-
nates with increasing angle, which may be attributed to
interlaminar thermal residual stresses [1,133].
5.5. Long-term mechanical properties: fatigue and creep
Considering free-edge delamination in thermoplastic
composites, it was found that residual thermal stresses pro-
duced a significant reduction in the specimen’s apparent
fatigue delamination strain [141,161].
When composite laminates suffer from thermal residual
stresses, the viscoelasticity of the matrix may manifest itself
as relaxation or creep [162], see Section 2. Creep behaviour
at room temperature was found to be more significant for
fast cooled samples (high residual stresses) in cross-ply IM6
carbon fibre PEEK laminates [104], whereas for unidirec-
tional laminates loaded in the 90° direction no difference
in creep behaviour was found. Therefore, it seems that
the difference in creep behaviour cannot be solely attrib-
uted to differences in crystallinity level. On the contrary,
more creep damage was inflicted during creep loading,
viz. transverse cracking, due to the thermal residual stres-
ses. During creep loading, viscoelastic behaviour is influ-
enced by ageing of the matrix, which in most cases slows
down creep deformation [30,59].
6. Residual stress effects in composite structures
To this point, we have discussed only the effects of ther-
mal residual stresses on a laminate level. From here on in,
we will discuss the published literature regarding the effects
of residual stresses on the level of a composite structure.
In part I the formation of residual stresses on composite
 P.P. Parlevliet et al. / Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596
structures was only briefly assessed; therefore the subject is
a bit more elaborated on here. A distinct section is dedi-
cated to filament-wound structures.
In composite parts, one of the residual stress effects is
that upon machining of the produced composite parts,
such as drilling holes, cutting, etc., deformations may
occur, due to the relaxation of residual stresses. Many
experimental techniques for determination of residual
stresses through-the-thickness are based on this [2].
Moreover, it was shown that in stiffened composite
plates, the residual stresses affect the natural frequencies
(vibrational modes) as well as flexural stiffness and buck-
ling loads of the structure [162–164].
The most common effect of residual stresses in compos-
ite products is deformation of angled and curved parts
(dimensional instability) [165,166]. The change in shape
during cooling of a composite structure is the result of
the composites’ anisotropy in shrinkage behaviour during
cooling [8,167], originating from the difference in thermal
expansion behaviour of the fibres and the matrix [150].
In-plane contraction for most composites is much smaller
than out-of-plane contraction [150]. Therefore, the shrink-
age over the inner plies is more restrained during cooling.
While the sheet is constrained in the mould, residual (shear)
stresses begin to build up during cooling. At the demoul-
ding stage, the sheet is instantaneously deformed because
of relaxation of part of the residual stresses and for the case
of a subsequent cooling stage, warpage is increased further
[168]. The two sides of a curve often approach each other
and this will result in a smaller enclosed angle. This change
in enclosed angle is named the ‘‘spring-in effect’’ [8,165], see
Fig. 5. In addition, tool–part interaction, thermal and fibre
volume gradients during cooling, ply stacking sequence,
symmetry of lay-up and processing conditions may influ-
ence spring-in of the laminate, as well as environmental
effects, such as moisture [37]. Geometrical dimensions also
play a role, such as enclosed angle, part thickness and tool
radius [165]. Analysis showed that the spring-in angle
a b
Fig. 5. Schematic of the spring-forward phenomenon: (a) before consol-
idation, in-plane contraction is represented by the dotted arrows, and out-
of-plane contraction by the solid arrows, (b) after consolidation and
cooling from the processing temperature.
1589
depended mainly on the differential expansion and shrink-
age behaviour in the various directions [8,166], and little on
tool–part interaction [169].
Through-the-thickness residual stresses due to tool–part
interaction or unbalanced cooling as well as interlaminar
residual stresses in combination with a non-symmetrical
lay-up may cause the sides of the angled parts to warp or
induce an additional angle change [136,150,152]. In addi-
tion, after thermoforming it proved difficult to obtain a
uniform thickness distribution, which could contribute to
additional residual stresses [165,166].
The spring-in effect has implications for the production
of three-dimensional, double curvature components [8].
Models were developed to predict the final deformation,
warpage or spring-in angle of a product [8,150–152,
165,167,168] as well as the residual stress distribution
[150,152,165,168]. Models have been based on classical
laminate theory (CLT), thermoelasticity as well as visco-
elastic behaviour. Most of the studies utilised finite element
modelling (FEM) for further analysis. The main reason for
development of these models is to predict the correct shape
of the mould, in order to obtain products of the required
dimensions (for i.e. assembly), and the models function
as a replacement for the trial-and-error based mould design
[150,166]. For angular parts, the correction in the moulds is
normally between 1° and 2.5°, but this needs adjustment
whenever the material system, lay-up and processing
parameters are varied [8,165]. This spring-in can be benefi-
cial for mould designers and processing, since in moulds
with an angle of 90°, there will not be sufficient consolida-
tion pressure in the side wall to ensure proper composite
consolidation. Due to the spring-in effect, the mould can
be designed in such a way that the angle between male/
female moulds is more than 90°, through which enough
pressure can be applied to the mould side walls and a prod-
uct with good quality can be obtained [165].
Model analysis and experiments have been carried out
on:
– Compression moulding of a V-shaped structure with 10
layers of carbon fibre plain weave reinforced PEI [45/0/
90/0/45]s [165];
– Compression moulding of a V-shaped GMT laminate
[150];
– Compression moulding of a V-shape of commingled car-
bon fibre/PA12 yarn in unidirectional as well as non-
symmetrical cross-ply lay-up exposed to balanced as
well as unbalanced cooling [136];
– Deep drawing of woven carbon fibre/PEEK (APC-2)
[166];
– A channel of an L-shaped and ‘top-hat’ cross-section of
quasi-isotropic APC-2 lay-up [8];
– Rubber press forming of a Z-shaped glass fabric 5Har-
ness Satin weave (5HS) reinforced PPS [152];
– Rubber formed singly curved woven fabric carbon fibre
5HS reinforced PEI [152];
– A cylindrical channel section [167].
1590 P.P. Parlevliet et al. / Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596
6.1. Filament-wound cylinders
Other composite structures where residual stresses play
a significant role, are thermoplastic composite filament-
wound or tape-layed structures (cylinders) where localised
heating is applied. Products that can be obtained with this
production technique can be pressure vessels, pipes, struts,
etc. [137–139].
Possible influences on residual stress level in these parts
were identified, such as lay-up angle, winding tension,
thickness, mandrel temperature, mandrel/composite CTE
mismatch, annealing, use of a liner and material properties
[138,139,170–173]. Thermal residual stress fields in wound
thermoplastic composite structures were modelled based
on these parameters [137,138,171–174] and applied to car-
bon fibre/PEEK [172,173], polybutyleneterephthalate
(PBT) powder impregnated glass fibre bundles [174], car-
bon fibre/PEEK and glass fibre/PP [137–139], and T300
carbon fibre/polysulfone [171] composites. Various stress
distributions through the thickness of the cylinder can be
achieved, which can be attributed to temperature profiles
during processing. With the filament winding process it is
possible to induce residual stresses in the part in such a
way that is possible to partially compensate for the stress
loading during service, for example in a pressure vessel
[137,139]. Modification of tape tension during winding
can be used to achieve this [137–139,173].
Effects of residual stresses in filament-wound composites
include a significant decrease in compressive properties of
carbon fibre/polysulfone cylinders [171], layer damage
and in some cases the residual stresses can be so high that
it promotes cracking [138]. Another effect that can be
found in wound thermoplastic cylinders, is fibre waviness,
which was found primarily to be affected by mandrel mate-
rial, not cooling rate [171,173].
When a section or ring of the filament-wound cylinder is
cut, this will release the torsion and bending moment due
to thermal residual strains [175,176]. When the cut is made
in the radial direction, the ring snaps open or closed,
depending on the residual moment on the cut surface
[138,139,173,174,177]. When the angle closes, a cutting
blade can get stuck in the structure. This ‘snapping’ effect
makes it possible to experimentally determine the circum-
ferential residual stresses in ring samples, by cutting
through the ring with strain gauges attached to the oppo-
site side for following deformation of the ring due to relax-
ation [138,139,175,176].
7. Proposed mechanisms for relief of residual stresses in
TPCs
If the effects of thermal residual stresses are large, it will
be important to learn how to minimise the residual stresses.
Several mechanisms were proposed to achieve this, based
on modification of the composite constituent materials
and processing cycle. Most important of all, a careful
design of the composite material by tailoring material
properties such as fibre volume fraction, number of off-axis
plies and thickness of plies is necessary to minimise (or
optimise, depending on the desired structural behaviour
of the composite product) thermal residual stresses
[1,125,126].
As discussed in part I of this series, the temperature dif-
ference between the stress-free temperature and the service
temperature is a major driving force for the formation of
thermal residual stresses [1]. A matrix with a low ‘‘stress-
free temperature’’ is therefore proposed to minimise resid-
ual stresses [3,178]. In the case that this is not desirable or
possible, a matrix with a low glass transition temperature
may be applied at the fibre–matrix interface in order to
lower the stress-free temperature [3,17], or more specifi-
cally, an amorphous interphase with a glass transition tem-
perature below the crystallisation temperature of a semi-
crystalline matrix [17]. In addition, it was proposed to con-
trol residual stresses with the application of a thin compli-
ant layer (of pure polymer, for example) between different
plies [12,125,126,141]. Such a layer will relieve residual
strains in the individual plies, increase the impact tough-
ness, but will give a slight reduction in interlaminar shear
strength [12]. Incorporation of glass fibres in a carbon fibre
based composite, was also considered a good solution
[126]. On top of this, the mentioned solutions as well as
the use of a more resilient and tougher matrix, were
regarded to reduce microcracking behaviour [125,126,179].
Another approach is to control the matrix shrinkage
behaviour upon cooling from the processing temperature
in order to decrease the mismatch between the fibres and
the matrix [3,12]. Addition of mineral fillers such as silica
to a matrix usually reduces the thermal expansion coeffi-
cient considerably [87], hence thermal residual stresses
can be reduced. A development of the last 15 years, is the
production of nanocomposites, which were shown possible
to be used as a matrix for composite materials [180]. Car-
bon nanofibres in PP [181], organoclays in polybenz-
oxazole (PBO) [182], polyamide-6 [183], and polyimide
matrices [184–186] were shown to give a significant (in
the order of tens %) reduction in CTE. In addition, the
fibre matrix adhesion and thermal properties were also
found to be affected. No studies are yet available that study
the possible reduction of thermal residual stresses in ther-
moplastic composites by utilising nanocomposites as a
matrix.4
For each lay-up, the optimum processing cycle, giving
the lowest residual stresses and maximising the mechanical
properties of the composite, is different [187]. Taking into
account viscoelastic behaviour, optimal cooling paths can
be found for obtaining the lowest possible residual stresses
[58]. Depending on the matrix crystallinity kinetics, it was
proposed that fast cooling to the crystallisation tempera-
ture and then slow cooling to RT would lower residual
4
It must be noted, that this is regarded on a micromechanical level. On a
nanoscale, the difference in thermal shrinkage between the nanoparticles
and polymer matrix may still result in thermal residual stresses.
 P.P. Parlevliet et al. / Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596
stresses in semi-crystalline composites [78]. After process-
ing, annealing can be carried out in order to alleviate some
of the stresses, minimise the residual stress gradient
through the thickness of a laminate and/or increase the
crystallinity levels [1,178]. For reduction of residual stresses
near free edges, localised heating and subsequent cooling
under sufficient pressure was proposed, to prevent debond-
ing of the plies [141,188,189].
As discussed in Section 6.1, for wound composite cylin-
ders a sufficiently high tow-tension should be used as well
as a low as possible mismatch between the composite and
mandrel materials’ CTE [171].
Thermal residual stresses were also found suitable to be
used advantageously, as several papers propose the predic-
tion of deformed shapes of unsymmetrical laminates, in
order to give them the shape that is necessary for a certain
application [190–193]. In addition, it was proposed to acti-
vate the snap-through moment of multi-stable unsymmetri-
cal laminates with smart material fibres [192].
For thick laminates, many models and curing strategies
are currently being developed for determination, but also
reduction of residual stresses through the thickness of
(mostly thermoset) laminates [170,194–200]. These residual
stresses may arise due to gradients in degree-of-cure, due to
exothermal heat in combination with low thermal diffusiv-
ity of the polymer matrix, or the matrix may be degraded,
etc. Up to now, these strategies are only applied to thermo-
set composites. In the (near) future, with the availability of
low-viscosity thermoplastic resin systems, it will become
possible that thick thermoplastic laminates are produced
by means of liquid moulding [201]. The development of
residual stresses through the thickness of such systems
remains to be investigated, only after which the effects
can be assessed.
8. Discussion and conclusions
Regarding the effects of thermal residual stresses in ther-
moplastic composites, a review of the literature showed
that several effects can be identified. Often, effects of resid-
ual stresses are reported, but are not identified as such. Pos-
sibly this review can facilitate identification of these effects.
Moreover, various mechanisms such as residual stresses,
thermal or mechanical loading and environmental varia-
tions all interact and change the material properties. This
renders it difficult to obtain an overall picture of the effects
of residual stresses on the properties of thermoplastic com-
posites on the short and long term. However, below a short
summary is given on the most important residual stress
effects that were reported in literature and discussed in this
review.
The most important matrix-dominated composite prop-
erties that are affected by residual stresses, relate to the
environmental resistance. In this respect, the residual stress
effects will become visible only during the service life of a
composite product, due to interaction of this viscoelastic
behaviour and environmental effects, including ageing. In
1591
the end, this may result in damage due to changes in phys-
ical and mechanical properties of the matrix, such as glass
transition temperature and toughness, respectively.
The fibre–matrix interphase may show debonding or
alteration of the transcrystalline interphase, although the
exact mechanism of the latter remains to be studied.
The mechanical properties of thermoplastic composite
laminates are significantly decreased by thermal residual
stresses. Many studies have been carried out on the residual
stress effects on fracture toughness, and several on tensile
and flexural properties. However, there seems to be a gap
in knowledge on the effects on compressive, shear, impact
and fatigue properties. This may be attributed to the diffi-
culty in understanding the fracture mechanics involved in
these types of mechanical loading and failure, but also on
the difficulty of acquiring an exact value for the magnitude
of residual stresses present in the composite laminates.
However, of most concern are the defects generated by
thermal residual stresses, such as fibre waviness, warpage
and transverse cracking. Many studies have been published
regarding micro- and/or transverse cracking of composites
and the effects of these cracks were found detrimental to
the composites’ structural behaviour. Several gaps regard-
ing microcracking research seem to exist. For example,
few studies have been performed into continuous fibre rein-
forced thermoplastic laminates, probably because the gen-
eral opinion is that composites with thermoplastic matrices
possess sufficient microcracking toughness. This assump-
tion can be argued, since several processing methods were
found to induce microcracking in even the toughest of ther-
moplastic composites. Furthermore, microcracking has
thus far mostly been studied on a coupon level. The effects
of various shapes and sizes of finished products are hardly
studied. Locally, many microcracks may exist and the
effects of these locally higher microcrack densities require
more research.
Another knowledge gap that was identified is the effects
that residual stresses through the thickness may have on
the mechanical behaviour of, for example, thick laminates.
It may be expected that upon flexural loading, these stres-
ses may induce preliminary failure in the compression side
of the laminate, and upon tensile loading, the centre plies
may cause failure sooner than expected. However, up to
now, this remains only guesswork of what will happen if
a laminate suffering from this type of stresses is loaded in
service.
With respect to composite structures, dimensional insta-
bility or ‘spring-in’ (as caused by for example tooling) is
one of the most significant residual stress effects. Moreover,
machining of composite parts suffering from thermal stres-
ses may prove challenging. Furthermore, the above-men-
tioned effects will be present in any composite structure
and therefore cannot be neglected. However, careful design
and processing of the composite laminates may allow the
residual stresses to fall within the design limits and as such
can even be used to our advantage. The literature published
in the last 20 years will aid us in assessing the possibilities,
1592 P.P. Parlevliet et al. / Composites: Part A 38 (2007) 1581–1596
but more knowledge regarding this interesting matter must
and will be generated. It can be expected that with the
development of more advanced analytical tools, such as
the Fibre Bragg Grating optical sensors, more understand-
ing of the mechanism of residual stress formation is gener-
ated, through which the effects might be better understood
in order to provide us with more fail-safe thermoplastic
composite structures.
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