Investigation on fatigue performance of T800 composites structural component

This paper presents a practical method for investigating fatigue performance of the typical structural component of carbon fiber reinforced plastic. Servo-hydraulic fatigue test machine is properly refitted to conduct the fatigue test under load controlled method. Distribution location of strain gauges is determined by finite element method (FEM). Strain values on surface are recorded with the increase of the fatigue cycle number. In the process of fatigue testing, the cracks are observed under the optical microscope. The experiment results show that failure modes of the structural component are mainly characterized by delamination which occurred in the thickness transition area. Strain will redistribute with the cracks propagating. And the suddenly decreased strain values will return to a stable level. Moreover, the application of Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique for fatigue testing of structural component is discussed.