Cyclic creep strain rate criterion for short-fibre reinforced thermoplastics: Validation of creep and fatigue performance across a wide range of load ratios

Abstract

The fatigue and creep responses of short-fibre reinforced thermoplastic matrix composites are influenced by numerous parameters such as load ratio for fatigue. Fatigue criteria, based solely on the evolution of the cyclic creep of the mean strain, are effective for load ratios greater than zero (tension/tension) but have limitations for negative load ratios (tension/compression).The aim of this study was to propose a unified creep and fatigue criterion, based on the evolution of the cyclic creep of the maximum strain, that allowed both load ratio domains to be covered. To investigate a wide range of load ratios (-1 to 0.8), an existing creep and fatigue database was augmented with purely alternated tension/compression tests. This database, which included 489 tests, considered the variations in parameters that influence the creep and fatigue responses, such as fibre orientation, water content and specifically for fatigue load ratio and frequency. This was used to validate a unified criterion based on the cyclic creep of the maximum strain. This criterion improved fatigue life prediction compared to existing criteria and allowed fatigue and creep results to be unified with 87% of estimated lifetimes within a scatter band of factor two.