An investigation on static failure behaviour of CFRP quasi isotropic laminates under in-plane and out-of-plane loads

Abstract

A study has been conducted to understand the differences in failure behaviour of a carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) material fabricated in two different laminate sequences. The material chosen was AS4 with the laminate systems as (0/45/−45/90) and (0/90/45/−45), both of quasi-isotropic (QI) nature. Carefully fabricated test coupons were tested under tensile, compression and flexure load conditions. The tensile and compression test results did not show any influence of the laminate system. However, the flexure loads show a consistent difference in failure behaviour of these two systems, owing to the role of out-of-plane-loading in QI ply. Classical lamination theory (CLT) and the numerical methods were employed to conduct stress analysis. Experimental results are discussed in comparison with the finite element method (FEM) and the analytical results.