Woven ply thermoplastic laminates under severe conditions: Notched laminates and bolted joints

This work is aimed at investigating the influence of environmental conditions on the mechanical behavior of carbon fiber fabric reinforced PPS laminates. Changes in the strength and in the failure mechanisms of notched laminates and bolted joints were investigated for different environmental conditions: room temperature/dry - 120 °C/hygrothermally aged. These conditions help enhance the ductile behavior of the PPS matrix but degrade the fiber/matrix interface. However, the degree of retention of mechanical properties is quite high for a quasi-isotropic lay-up and hole sensitivity is slightly decreased by environmental conditions. For bolted joint tests, severe conditions increase the strength of double-lap joints (+11%) but are detrimental to the strength of single-lap joints (−26%).