Key Engineering Materials Vol. 742

Abstract: Structural aircraft components are often subjected to more than 108 loading cycles during their service life. Therefore the increasing use of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) as primary lightweight structural materials leads to the demand of a precise knowledge of the fatigue behavior and the corresponding failure mechanisms in the very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) range. To realise fatigue investigations for more than 108 loading cycles in an economic reasonable time a novel ultrasonic fatigue testing facility (UTF) for cyclic three-point bending was developed and patented. To avoid critical internal heating due to viscoelastic damping and internal friction, the fatigue testing at 20 kHz is performed in resonance as well as in pulse-pause control resulting in an effective testing frequency of ~1 kHz and the capability of performing 109 loading cycles in less than twelve days. The fatigue behavior of carbon fiber twill 2/2 fabric reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (CF-PPS) and carbon fiber 4-H satin fabric reinforced epoxy resin (CF-EP) was investigated. To study the induced fatigue damage of CF-PPS and CF-EP in the VHCF regime in detail, the fatigue mechanisms and damage development were characterized by light optical and SEM investigations during interruptions of constant amplitude tests (CAT). Lifetime-oriented investigations showed a significant decrease of the bearable stress amplitudes of CF-PPS and CFEP in the range between 106 to 109 loading cycles. The ultrasonically fatigued thermoset matrix composite showed a significantly different VHCF behavior in comparison to the investigated thermoplastic matrix composite: No fiber-matrix debonding or transversal cracks were present on the specimen edges, but a sudden specimen failure along with carbon fiber breakage have been observed. The fatigue shear strength at 109 cycles for CF-PPS could be determined to τa, 13 = 4.2 MPa and to τa, 13 = 15.8 MPa for the thermoset material CF-EP.

Abstract: In order to optimize resource efficiency, glass fiber-reinforced polymers (GFRP) have been implemented in recent years in a wide range of applications of transport industries. In this context, GFR-epoxy (GFR-EP) is currently being used mainly because of their sufficiently investigated properties and production processes. Polyurethane (PU), however, shows advantages in terms of energy efficiency and damage tolerance. The aim of this study is the characterization of the fatigue behavior of GFR-PU by stepwise exploration of damage development on microscopic level. Therefore, multiple amplitude and constant amplitude tests have been carried out. Hysteresis and temperature measurements were applied in order to investigate the damage processes and correlated with in situ computed tomography (CT) in intermitting tests. The damage development and mechanisms could be characterized and separated. The results confirm known GFRP damage characteristics, whereas also material-specific peculiarities regarding crack development could be revealed.

Abstract: An efficient implementation of lightweight design is the use of continuous carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) due to their outstanding specific mechanical properties. Embedded metal elements, so-called inserts, can be used to join metal-based attachments to structural CFRP parts in the context of multi-material design. They differ from other mechanical fasteners and have distinctive benefits. In particular, drilling of the components to be joined can be avoided and, depending on the preforming, fiber continuity can be maintained using such elements. Thus, no local bearing stress is anticipated. Previous work published by the authors [1] dealt with a systematic research of the influence of different types of stresses on the load bearing capacity of welded inserts. This contribution aims at the investigation of the performance of shape-optimized inserts under the same types of loading to compare with the results of the welded inserts serving as a reference. For that purpose, the respective load bearing capacities were evaluated after preinduced damages from impact tests and thermal cycling. In addition, dynamic high-speed tensile tests (pull-out) were conducted under different loading velocities. It is shown that the load bearing capacities increased up to 19% for high velocities (250 mm/s) in comparison to quasi-static loading conditions (1.5 mm/min) showing an obvious strain rate dependency of the CFRP. Quasi-static residual strength measurements under tensile loading identified the influence of the respective preinduced damages of the insert. Influence of the thermal loading condition was evaluated by placing the specimens in a climate chamber and exposing it to various numbers of temperature cycles from-40 °C to +80 °C with a duration time of 1.5 hours each. Here, it turned out that already 10 temperature cycles decreased the quasi-static load bearing capacity up to 31%. According to DIN EN 6038 the specimens were loaded with different impact energies and the residual strength were measured carrying out pull-out tests. It could be shown that the damage tolerance is significantly lower for the shape-optimized insert due to failure-critical delamination. The optimized insert also endured lower impact energies and the influence on the performance was higher.

Abstract: Failure of fiber reinforced polymers is a complex interaction of different microstructural mechanisms. In order to assign those mechanisms to the macroscopic material response, in-situ methods as acoustic emission can be applied. This allows for the detection of initiation and growth as well as for the localization of damage in mechanically loaded materials. In this study, mechanical material testing of continuous and discontinuous fiber reinforced polymers was coupled with acoustic emission. Results have shown that different failure mechanisms resulting from different reinforcement architectures can be distinguished due to their acoustic emission signal. Based on experimentally captured acoustic emission signals, machine learning algorithms were applied to differentiate various failure mechanisms. This offers the possibility to investigate damage of hybrid continuous-discontinuous Sheet Molding Compounds exposed to bending loads.

Abstract: Numerical models based on cohesive zones are usually used to model and simulate the mechanical behavior of laminated carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) in automotive and aerospace applications and require different interlaminar properties. The current work focuses on determining the interlaminar fracture toughness (G_IC) under Mode I loading of a double cantilever beam (DCB) specimen of unidirectional CFRP, serving as prototypical material. The novelty of this investigation is the improvement of the testing methodology by introducing digital image correlation (DIC) as an extensometer and this tool allows for crack growth measurement, phenomenological visualization and quantification of various material responses to Mode I loading. Multiple methodologies from different international standards and other common techniques are compared for the determination of the evolution of G_IC as crack resistance curves (R-curves). The primarily metrological sources of uncertainty, in contrast to material specific related uncertainties, are discussed through a simple sensitivity analysis. Additionally, the current work offers a detailed insight into the constraints and assumptions to allow exploration of different methods for the determination of material properties using the DIC measured data. The main aim is an improvement of the measurement technique and an increase in the reliability of measured data during static testing, in advance of future rate dependent testing for crashworthiness simulations.

Abstract: In scope of the investigation of residual stresses the hole drilling method is an accepted method. The method is though not applicable for materials with high anisotropic behavior. Therefore a new algorithm is derived which allows the calculation of residual stresses in laminates made of unidirectional layers. Also the strain gauges deliver only strains on the areas where the strain gauges are applied. With the use of a high resolution imaging system and digital image correlation this area and the informational output can be widely improved. First, the derivation of the residual stress analysis algorithm is presented. For this an adequate finite element model, which is modeling the cooldown process as well as the drilling process, is set up and the surface strains are extracted. Based on this information an algorithm is derived and presented. Within the derivation a change of the layup, a possible change of the cooldown process and a variation of the drilling steps can be investigated. In consequence the input parameters of the algorithm can vary dependent on these factors. Second, the new optical testing setup with refinements to be able to measure the small deformations within micro-strains on the specimen’s surface is prepared and the concept presented. To solve the problem of casting shadows of the drill a special camera setup is being used.

Abstract: Applications of soft (Co and Cu X-ray tube) and hard (Ag X-ray tube) radiation in computed tomography experiments on a laboratory X-ray diffractometer are presented. Using low energy (<10 keV) X-ray sources provide the possibility to investigate objects made of light (organic) materials in more detail compared to the high energy application. In case of metal or heavy element containing composites high energy (~20 keV) X-ray sources allow to obtain full 3D information on the samples without destroying them. These measurements allow both qualitative and quantitative analysis of porous materials, samples with oriented components, and solid compounds.

Abstract: The use of sandwich structures is well established in industrial sectors where high stiffness and strength combined with lightweight are required, like in marine, wind turbine and railway applications. However, the vulnerability of sandwich structures to low-velocity impacts limits its use in primary aircraft structures. Pin reinforcement of the foam core enhances the out-of-plane properties and the damage tolerance of the foam core. In this paper, a finite element model is proposed to predict the impact behaviour of pin-reinforced sandwich structure. An approach based on the building block approach was used to develop the model. Multi-scale modelling in the impact region that considers the delamination of the face sheet using cohesive zone elements was employed to increase the accuracy of the simulation. Impact tests were performed to validate the numerical model. A good agreement between numerical and experimental results in terms of contact-force displacement history and failure mode was found.

Abstract: Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) enables an intrinsic manufacturing of fiber reinforced composite parts containing integrated metallic inserts. The inserts are embedded into the fiber layers in the preforming stage of the process and therefore influence the following mold filling. The fiber structure around the embedded insert is strongly influenced by the insert resulting in high local variations of fiber volume fraction which changes the local permeability. This leads to an inhomogenic flow front and can even result in dry spots of the cured part. To predict the formation of air bubbles, a two-phase mold filling simulation is used under consideration of local fiber volume fraction. Local fiber structure is determined using CT-scans of manufactured parts with different orientations of the insert in relation to the preform and to the filling direction. The mold filling simulations allow the evaluation of different filling strategies and show a strong influence of the insert on the local flow front propagation.

Abstract: This paper presents results of the investigation of two biological role models, the shield bug (Graphosoma italicum) and the carnivorous Waterwheel plant (Aldrovanda vesiculosa). The aim was to identify biological construction and movement principles as inspiration for technical, deployable systems. The subsequent processes of abstraction and simulation of the movement and the design principles are summarized, followed by results on the mechanical investigations on various combinations of fibers and matrices with regard to taking advantage of the anisotropy of fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs). With the results gained, it was possible to implement defined flexible bending zones in stiff composite components using one composite material, and thereby to mimic the biological role models. First small-scale demonstrators for adaptive façade shading systems – Flectofold and Flexagon – are proving the functionality.