Experimental study on the tension-tension fatigue behaviour of glass/epoxy quasi-isotropic composites

Abstract

This study investigates the tension-tension fatigue behaviour of glass/epoxy quasi-isotropic laminates. Constant amplitude tension-tension fatigue tests were performed at different stress level at a stress ratio, R = 0.1 and at a frequency of 3 Hz. The damage growth in the material was characterized by evaluating the degradation in stiffness. A phenomenological cumulative stiffness degradation based damage model was used to predict the damage development in the material. It was observed that, in the initial fatigue loading cycle, the material exhibited rapid reduction in stiffness and maintained a constant rate of degradation until failure.