Bending Fatigue Behavior of Flax and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Resin

Abstract

The purpose of the present work is to investigate experimentally the mechanical fatigue behavior of unidirectional flax and carbon fiber reinforced composites. Static and fatigue bending tests were realized on laminates made of flax and carbon fibers impregnated with an epoxy resin. Displacement-controlled bending fatigue tests were conducted on standard specimens with a mean displacement of 50% of the ultimate failure displacement. Specimens were subjected to an applied displacement level of 70% until 104 cycles. A comparison of the fatigue properties of the flax and carbon fiber composites was made. The stiffness degradation curves show that carbon composites have higher resistance than flax composites. Hysteresis cycles, dissipated energy and loss factor evolution were measured and discussed. The results obtained show that the flax fiber composites have a damping property higher than the carbon fiber reinforced composites under fatigue bending tests.