Characteristic of mode I fatigue crack propagation of CFRP laminates toughened with CNF interlayer

In the present study the effect of carbon nanofiber interlayers on the fatigue crack propagation of woven fabric CFRP laminates made by VaRTM is investigated. Double cantilever beam (DCB) tests are carried out to determine the mode I static fracture toughness and mode I fatigue crack propagation curve. The experimental results clearly show that the interlaminar fracture toughness and the fatigue crack growth resistance can be substantially improved by the addition of CNF interlayers to the CFRP laminates. In more details, as far as the mode I fatigue crack tests are concerned, thanks to the addition of MWNT-7 interlayers the number of cycles to failure becomes 1.5 or more times greater than that of base laminates. Furthermore, it is found that the fatigue fracture toughness GImaxGImax (the upper limit of the energy release rate in a fatigue test) is increased by about 300%.