Statistical characterization of fatigue damage in high temperature composite laminates

Since high temperature polymer composites are receiving special attention because of their potential applications to high speed transport airframe structures and aircraft engine components exposed to elevated temperatures, the long term durability and associated damage mechanisms of these materials is of great concern. This study focuses on fatigue matrix cracking in transverse lavers of a carbon/epoxy composite proposed for high temperature applications and cracking multiplication prediction under fatigue loading, which play important roles in predicting its long term behavior. Fatigue damages at both room and elevated temperatures are characterized experimentally. Furthermore, Fatigue Monte Carlo technique is applied to simulate the nondeterministic transverse cracking procedure based on shear lag model, stress-life curve and damage accumulation models. It is shown that the simulation based on Miner's rule agrees better with experimental results at both room and high temperatures.