Progressive Damage Analysis of Carbon Fabric-reinforced Polymer Composites under Three-point Bending

Abstract

Damage evolution of carbon fabric-reinforced polymer composite with various off-axis angles during the progressive bending tests was monitored by acoustic emission and Micro-CT. Meanwhile, the acoustic emission signals can be post-processed by k-means clustering methods. The results indicate that the maximum load and stiffness of laminates decrease with the increase of off-axis angle. Three key points (linear growth point, maximum load point and fail point) are selected to research the progressive damage. The existence of the Kaiser effect is observed. With the increase of off-axis angle, the damage degree and the load shared by the elastic-plastic matrix increase. The bending of matrix can enhance the fracture toughness and restrain the damage. The complementary technology can provide a basis for health monitoring of CFRP laminates.