Damage modeling of carbon-fiber reinforced polymer composite pin-joints at extreme temperatures

A novel finite element based framework was developed to study the effect of extreme temperatures on damage progression in carbon-fiber reinforced composite pin-joints. A progressive damage method that incorporated Hashin-type damage criteria was implemented in the model. Temperature dependent material properties were used to create three material models with properties corresponding to ambient temperatures −55 °C, 20 °C and 82 °C. At −55 °C ambient temperature, joint strength was reduced 8.6% as the relaxation temperature was varied from 20 °C to 100 °C. At 82 °C ambient temperature, joint strength was reduced 3.6% as the relaxation temperature was varied from 20 °C to 100 °C. The model showed that increasing the relaxation temperature decreased the joint strength and increased the matrix tensile damage rate but did not greatly affect other failure modes.