LITH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPOSITE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Damage Development in Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites N.N.V VO¥, G.M. PEARCE? and A. CROSKY** * School of Materials Science and Engineering, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia * School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia Emails: n.vo@unsw.edu.au; g.pearce@unsw.edu.au; a.crosky@unsw.edu.au; Abstract Examination of the process zone ahead of growing cracks in 90° T800/3900-2 unidirectional carbon fibre reinforced polymer composites was conducted using high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) coupled with focused-ion beam milling (FiB). The results revealed nano-cavities, 50-200 nm in diameter, in the matrix adjacent to the fibre/matrix interface immediately ahead of the crack tip. This indicates that cavitation is the initiation event in dilatational failure, in agreement with the predictions of the Onset Theory. Keywords carbon fibre reinforced polymers, cavitation, the Onset Theory 1. Introduction Fibre reinforced plastics have become important materials for manufacturing industries such as marine, automobile, aircraft, sports, etc. [1]. For structural design purposes, it is necessary to thoroughly understand their failure behaviour. Empirical theories have been developed to predict the load at which specific structures, depending on fibre orientation and stacking sequence, will fal. Aiming to create a new failure prediction theory which is applicable for all composite structures, the Onset Theory was developed by Gosse and co-workers [2] The theory predicts that failure of fibre reinforced polymers will be dictated by the matrix properties when the loading directions range from ~10° to 90° [3]. Failure is considered to initiates in the matrix when either the dilatational (volume change) or distortional (shape change) deformation reaches a critical value. The initial failure in distortion is induced by intra-molecular modification, such as conformational changes, while intermolecular cavitation is considered to precede dilatational failure (2) ‘The present work was conducted to investigate the initiation of failure in unidirectional fibre/plastic composites loaded in transverse tension. It is considered that regions immediately ahead of a crack tip will contain the initial features of failure, and accordingly these regions were examined. The 1 47LITH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPOSITE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY study was conducted using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and focused-ion- beam milling (FIB). The results are analysed in terms of the predictions of the Onset Theory for initiation of dilatational failure in fibre reinforced plastic composites. 2. Experimental Results The composite material used in the present study was T800/3900-2 unidirectional carbon fibre reinforced epoxy. The 3900-2 matrix resin is considered as @ non-toughened epoxy resin although thermoplastic particles are used for the interlayer toughening, The geometrical configuration of three-point bending samples was specifically designed to arrest growing cracks so as to allow examination of the process zone ahead of the crack tip. As shown in Figure 1a-b, the specimen was firstly scalloped on the top edge to make a V-shaped notch and a fibreglass strap was subsequently attached to each side of the specimen. While the notch acted as a stress concentrator to initiate a crack in bending, the fibreglass straps were intended to absorb the energy, slowing the crack growth thereby facilitating its arrest within the body of the specimen ‘Three-point bending was applied to a 90° unidirectional carbon fibre/epoxy composite, Figure 1c, to initiate a crack under transverse tension. The span and loading speed of the bending used were 76 mm and 0.1 mm/min, respectively. The crack was arrested as soon as it started to grow by unloading the specimen. The region just ahead of the crack tip, shown by the rectangle in Figure 2, was examined at high magnification using field emission scanning electron microscopy and focused-ion- beam milling. ant < . = ->—= B- . o or prof Figure 1: Sample preparation for the three-point ber test. (a) Sample geometry; (b) Fibreglass straps attachment; () ‘Three-point bending setup. [4] For the geometry shown in Figure 2, the crack grows in the y-z plane while the fibres are parallel to the y direction. The specimens were sectioned in the x-z plane so as to image the crack side-on (i.e., 48LITH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPOSITE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY perpendicular to the crack plane). This resulted in the fibres being sectioned perpendicular to their axis, Crack tip Hh composite Hi Fiver (orientation) BB Fiver glass X-Zplane Figure 2: Schematic dlagram showing the process zone ahead ofthe crack ip after reference [4 Figure 3 shows a region containing a crack which has been arrested (the lower crack in the figure) while the boxed region in Figure 3, which is immediately ahead of the crack tip, is shown at high magnification in Figure 4. A series of nano-scale cavities can be seen in Figure 4 in the matrix adjacent to the fibre/matrix interface. wa Sw Figure 3: SEM micrograph of a crack tip in a 90° 1200/3900-2 specimen. Global crack growth is from left to right, x10K. 49