In situ fibre fracture measurement in carbon–epoxy laminates using high resolution computed tomography

High resolution Synchrotron Radiation Computed Tomography (SRCT) has been used to capture fibre damage progression in a carbon–epoxy notched [90/0]s laminate loaded to failure. To the authors knowledge this provides the first direct in situ measurement of the accumulation of fibre fractures for a high performance material under structurally relevant load conditions (i.e. fractures within the bulk of an essentially conventional engineering laminate). A high level of confidence is placed in the measurements, as the failure processes are viewed internally at the relevant micromechanical length-scales, as opposed to previous indirect and/or surface-based methods. Whilst fibre breaks are the dominant composite damage mechanism considered in the present work, matrix damage, such as transverse ply cracks, 0° splits and delaminations, were also seen to occur in advance of extensive fibre breaks. At loads where fibre break density levels were significant, splitting and delamination were seen to separate the central 0° ply in the near notch region from the 90° plies. Fibre breaks were initially observed in isolated locations, consistent with the stochastic nature of fibre strengths. The formation of clusters of broken fibres was observed at higher loads. The largest clusters observed consisted of a group of eleven breaks and a group of fourteen breaks. The large clusters were observed at the highest load, at sites with no prior breaks, indicating they occurred within a relatively narrow load range. No strong correlation was found between the location of matrix damage and fibre breaks. The data achieved has been made available online at www.materialsdatacentre.com for ongoing model development and validation.

► Notched [90/0]s carbon–epoxy laminates loaded in situ to failure.
► Synchrotron Radiation Computed Tomography (SRCT) used to capture damage progression.
► Non-destructive method allows all fibre breaks and matrix cracks to be identified.
► Accumulation of fibre breaks with load analysed.
► Providing data for which existing models can be informed and validated.