Fatigue Performance of Composite Laminates After Low-velocity Impact

Abstract

Compression-compression fatigue tests were carried out on T300/5405 composite laminates after low-velocity impact, compression performance of the laminates with different impact damages was studied together with its fatigue life and damage propagation under different stress levels, then the effects of impact energy, stress level and damage propagation on fatigue life of laminates were discussed. The results indicate that impact damage can greatly reduce the residual strength of laminates; under low fatigue load levels, the higher impact energy is, the shorter the fatigue life of laminates with impact damage will be; damage propagation undergoes two stages during the fatigue test, namely the steady propagation and the rapid propagation, accounting for 80% and 20% of the overall fatigue life, respectively; damage propagation rate decreases with the reduction of stress level.

Keywords

• composite laminate
• compression performance
• damage propagation
• fatigue life