Renaud Gutkin

Characterisation of the mechanical and fracture properties of a uni-weave carbon fibre/epoxy non-crimp fabric composite.

A complete database of the mechanical properties of an epoxy polymer reinforced with uni-weave carbon fibre non-crimp fabric (NCF) is established. In-plane and through-the-thickness tests were performed on unidirectional laminates under normal loading and shear loading. The response under cyclic shear loading was also measured. The material has been characterised in terms of stiffness, strength, and failure features for the different loading cases. The critical energy release rates associated with different failure modes in the material were measured from interlaminar and translaminar fracture toughness tests. The stress–strain data of the tensile, compressive, and shear test specimens are included. The load–deflection data for all fracture toughness tests are also included. The database can be used in the development and validation of analytical and numerical models of fibre reinforced plastics (FRPs), in particular FRPs with NCF reinforcements.

Combining damage and friction to model compressive damage growth in fibre-reinforced composites

A material model for unidirectional fibre-reinforced composites coupling damage to the friction acting on newly created microcracks is developed. While existing material models accounting for progressive damage assume that microcracks remain traction free under compressive load, the present model accounts for contact and friction at microcrack closure. The model is validated against experimental data and it is shown that friction can account for part of the non-linear response and the hysteresis loops typically observed in the shear response of composites. Further validation against simple crushing tests is performed and shows that the physics behind crushing is well captured.

Development of a test method for evaluating the crushing behaviour of unidirectional laminates

More fundamental test methods are needed to assist the development of physically based and truly predictive simulation tools for composite materials under crash conditions. In this paper, a unidirectional flat specimen that can be used to validate the predicted behaviour from a simulation to the physical behaviour in the experiment is developed. A systematic experimental investigation is conducted to evaluate the influence of the trigger geometry on the crushing response by selecting two trigger types and different trigger angles. For longitudinal crushing, the traditional bevel trigger leads to out-of-plane failure by splaying with a limited amount of in-plane fracture, while the proposed trigger achieves a high amount of compressive fragmentation failure. For transverse crushing, the symmetry of the proposed new trigger improves the specimen stability during the crushing process. It is also observed that the weft threads of the unidirectional fabric reinforcement used for the tests have a strong influence on the longitudinal crushing response. The boundary conditions of the test and the information on the specimen failure gleaned from video recordings and microscopic inspections are discussed in order to facilitate a future correlation with modelling results.

Orthotropic criteria for transverse failure of non-crimp fabric-reinforced composites

In this paper, a set of failure criteria for transverse failure in non-crimp fabric-reinforced composites is presented. The proposed failure criteria are physically based and take into account the orthotropic character of non-crimp fabric composites addressing the observed lack of transverse isotropy. Experimental data for transverse loading out-of-plane in combination with in-plane loads are scarce. Therefore, to validate the developed criteria, experimental data are complemented with numerical data from a representative volume element model using a meso-micromechanical approach. The representative volume element model also provides a deeper understanding of how failure occurs in non-crimp fabric composites. Strength predictions from the developed set of failure criteria show good agreement with the experimental and numerical data.