Abstract
Abstract In this study, fatigue testing under mode-I loading was carried out on double cantilever beam (DCB) specimens, and subsequent healing of the delamination was investigated. Due to the susceptibility of laminated composites to delamination, fatigue delamination is one of the crucial damage modes in laminated composites that may result in catastrophic structural failure. Hence, it is necessary to investigate and quantify the delamination crack growth behavior due to fatigue loading and explore methods to heal the delamination. Therefore, DCB specimens of a carbon fiber-reinforced thermoset polymer (CFRP) composite containing thermoplastic healants were manufactured. The main objective of using thermoplastic healants, i.e., polycaprolactone and shape memory polymer, was to close and then heal the fatigue cracks. In-situ self-healing was achieved by activating macro fiber composite (MFC) actuators bonded to the DCB specimen, where the high-frequency vibration of the actuator provides the heat necessary to close the cracks using thermoplastic healants.
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