Effect of temperature and strain rate on tensile mechanical properties of ARALL-1 laminates

Abstract

The combined effect of temperature and strain rate of the mechanical properties for unidirectional 3/2 ARALL®-1 laminates was studied. In this paper, the effect of strain rates from 0.00083–0.833 min−1 on tensile behaviour at temperatures up to 250°F (∼121 °C) has been conducted. It is demonstrated that tensile strength, tensile modulus, and fracture strain are found to depend on temperature and strain rate. However, the effect of strain rates at 75 °F (∼24 °C) and 180 °F (∼82 °C) was found to be insignificant except the lowest strain rate at 180 °F. It was also observed that the tensile yield strength decreased as the strain rate decreased. The tensile properties were moderately reduced at high temperatures and were higher at high strain rates than at low strain rates. The temperature effect is more significant than that due to the strain rate. Scanning electron photomicrographs of the fracture surfaces observed in the aramid/epoxy layer of ARALL-1 laminates at the lowest strain rate are shown to be significantly different only at 250 °F (∼121 °C). But this phenomenon is not obvious when the highest strain rate is employed.