Investigation of crack propagation in filament wound composite samples of Mode-I by using acoustic emission technique

Abstract

A common industrial method of fabricating composite structural is filament winding, which is widely used to manufacture axisymmetric components. One of the most prevalent damage mechanisms in these composite structures is delamination, which occurs in various types of loading. In this research, the mechanical behavior and propagation of the initial crack of Mode-I in carbon/epoxy filament wound (FW) composite curve beams have been investigated via the acoustic emission (AE) method. For this purpose, at first, a composite tube was made with considering the artificial interlayer separation, and the beam specimens were cut from the longitudinal direction. At first, the initiation of the failures was determined using the AE method. Then, the growth and spread of interlayer delamination were investigated by the energy of AE signals and the sentry function. By determining the speed of the AE waves and providing a method to filter unwanted signals, the momentary position of the interlayer delamination tip during growth is predicted. The results showed that the fiber bridging phenomenon was due to the penetration of the two regions adjacent of the separation interface, and the fiber bridging length considerably affected the Mode-I delamination fracture toughness. In addition, the fracture toughness increased as the fiber bridging zone enlarged. Finally, good agreement was observed between the fracture toughness values obtained from the AE method and those found in the standard ASTM D5528.