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Damage-Caused Residual Curvatures in Symmetric Cross-Ply Laminates

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Abstract

Thermo-mechanical response of [90n/0m]s carbon/epoxy and glass/epoxy cross-ply laminates in 4-point bending is analyzed experimentally and analytically. Intralaminar cracks in surface 90°-plies and local delaminations introduced in one of the 90°-plies at large deflections reduce the laminate bending stiffness and make the laminate asymmetric due to differences in the damage state in the layers. The latter leads to residual thermal curvature that increases with intralaminar crack density and with growing local delaminations. In the present study optical microscopy was used for crack density quantification. It was also found experimentally that small local delaminations develop in the initial stage of damage evolution and under increasing load they grow rapidly from the existing and newly created crack tips. The effect of damage on residual curvature and the bending stiffness was analyzed using an analytical method, where the concept of the effective stiffness of damaged ply is used in the classical laminate theory. Analytical results were validated with a 3-D FEM simulation of the damaged laminate in a 4-point bending test. In the literature a phenomenon that the microdamage in laminate layers causes redistribution of in-plane thermal stresses is often overlooked. The present paper shows that the used analytical approach gives an accurate description of experimental results regarding two independent sets of data: the residual curvature; and the laminate bending stiffness with evolving micro-damage. The present study also renders a better insight in the mechanics of the phenomena and allows estimation of the extent of local delaminations that is difficult to measure in tests.

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Funding

This work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund within the Activity 1.1.1.2 “Post-doctoral Research Aid” of the Specific Aid Objective 1.1.1 “To increase the research and innovative capacity of scientific institutions of Latvia and the ability to attract external financing, investing in human resources and infrastructure” of the Operational Programme “Growth and Employment” (No.1.1.1.2/VIAA/3/19/408).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Riga Technical University, Institute of High Performance Materials and Structures, Kipsalas 6A, LV-1048, Riga, Latvia

    Andrejs Pupurs & Janis Varna

  2. Luleå University of Technology, Department of Engineering Sciences and Mathematics, 971 87, Luleå, Sweden

    Janis Varna

Authors
  1. Andrejs Pupurs
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  2. Janis Varna
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Contributions

Both authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection was performed by Andrejs Pupurs. Data analysis was performed by both authors. Both authors contributed to writing the first draft, revisions and the final draft of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Andrejs Pupurs.

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The present paper was prepared for the Special Memorial Issue of Applied Composite Materials journal remembering the ever-inspirational workshops organized by Professor Peter Beaumont.

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Pupurs, A., Varna, J. Damage-Caused Residual Curvatures in Symmetric Cross-Ply Laminates. Appl Compos Mater (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10443-024-10231-2

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