Effect of mesoscopic out-of-plane defect on the fatigue behavior of a GFRP

• Published in: Mechanics of materials Vol. 117; pp. 214 - 224
• Main Authors: Cruanes, C., Shanwan, A., Méo, S., Allaoui, S., Deffarges, M.-P., Lacroix, F., Hivet, G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2018; Elsevier
• Subjects: Defect; Fatigue; Forming; Glass fibers; Materials and structures in mechanics; Mechanics; Mechanics of materials; Physics; Process; Solid mechanics; Structural mechanics; Defect; Fatigue; Forming; Process; Glass fibers
• ISSN: 0167-6636; 1872-7743
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mechmat.2017.11.008

•Influence of an out-of-plane defect and its direction in GFRP samples on the mechanical properties.•During static and fatigue tests, observation of the local strain with digital image correlation.•Transversal orientation of defect causes massive loss of mechanical properties in both tests.•Longitudinal orientation shows almost no influence in static but suffers a significant loss in fatigue (less than transversal though).•The massive loss of mechanical properties in fatigue is caused by the easier delamination induced by the presence of the defect (compared to no defect samples). This paper deals with the influence of buckles, a mesoscopic out-of-plane defect, on the fatigue behavior of a GFRP. Three cases were investigated: samples with no defect and two kinds of samples with buckle defects generated in the longitudinal or the transverse direction. Firstly, static tests were used to measure the differences in the mechanical properties of the two defect orientations and determine where the areas of maximum local strain were located. Secondly, fatigue tests were performed in the three configurations. The results revealed that both defect orientations have a significant effect on the fatigue behavior. The configuration with defects in the transverse direction was the most crippling condition but the longitudinal configuration was also strongly affected by the presence of mesoscopic defects. It was concluded that this mesoscopic out-of-plane defect has a major negative influence on the fatigue life of such a composite.