Environmental fatigue crack propagation in metal/composite laminates: interim report no. 1

Plight simulation fatigue crack propagation tests with gust spectrum loading were carried out on 2024-T3/carbon-epoxy, 7475-T761/carbon-epoxy and Ti-6Al-4V/carbon-epoxy laminates with nominal weight savings of 30% as compared to equivalent 2024-T3 panels. The performance of the 2024-T3/ carbon-epoxy laminates was much superior to those of the...

Residual strength properties of carbon/epoxy composite material

Fatigue tests on unidirectional Ca/ep composite material have been performed to investigate whether previous fatigue loading did influence the residual static strength. Residual strength tests were carried out on (0, ± 45)2s and (± 45)2s laminates, while for the (O, ± 45)2s laminate the influence of previous tensile fatigue loading on the...