Abstract
Fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs) are massively used as an alternative to metals in structural applications. The brittle nature of their matrix, however, makes them more susceptible to crack formation and propagation resulting in costly repair operations and increased environmental impact. Intrinsic healable composites provide a good alternative to these conventional composite materials; whereas their mechanical properties in static solicitation or impact testing are well documented, only few studies address fatigue testing. This research focuses on 3-point bending fatigue tests of polymer-blend based healable E-glass composite materials. The S-N curve was first built to compare the fatigue behavior of the healable system to a conventional epoxy composite. A statistical approach based on Weibull statistics was developed to predict the failure probability as a function of the applied stress amplitude, to compare both systems at equivalent probability of failure. The healable system showed a higher fatigue resistance at high cycle fatigue. Furthermore, a full stiffness recovery was obtained and a life extension of at least 5 times compared to the reference system when healed after reaching a 90% chance of survival. The healable system thus opens new perspectives for more sustainable load-bearing composites.
Highlights
The use of fiber reinforced polymers as a stiff and lightweight alternative to metal in structural applications enables to reach higher performance especially in transport, energy, and aerospace industry
The stress amplitude was corrected to an equivalent volume fraction of Vf 50% to take into account the large difference in thickness due to the processing of the healable system
The potential of healable composites as an alternative to conventional composites was confirmed through 3-point bending fatigue tests
Summary
The use of fiber reinforced polymers as a stiff and lightweight alternative to metal in structural applications enables to reach higher performance especially in transport, energy, and aerospace industry. The brittle nature of these materials makes them more prone to damage during manufacturing, handling, maintenance activities or during operation. The overall budget for composite materials repair is significant and expected to reach not less than 22 Bn$ worldwide by 2026 (MarketsAndMarkets, 2017); in parallel, tons of unrecycled composite waste are produced due to unrepaired damaged structures, reaching 40,000 tons in France for the year 2015 (JEC-GROUP, 2017). Self-healing and more especially healable composites are a promising alternative to conventional composites to reduce repair costs and waste because of their ease of repair, demanding no additional material, which sometimes goes along with increased recyclability using moderate manpower and energy
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