Research Area Characterization - Associated Project

Continuum damage models for reliability assessment of structural composites
Advisors: Gumbsch (IAM-CMS), Hohe (IWM)


The markets demand for Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Composite has dramatically increased due to its significant applications and advantages in the industry. Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Composite structure under applied loading will undergo several damages and fracture modes such as matrix yielding, matrix cracking, fiber pull-out, fiber fracture, inter-ply delamination or fiber/matrix interface debonding. These damages may appear individually or interact collectively, which later lead towards catastrophic structure failure. Thus, reliability assessment of the structure is absolutely critical, considering the damage initiation, damage propagation and final failure. Furthermore, the versatility of the materials that are exploited under higher stress and strains justifies the need for a more reliable data.

This project aims to identify the dominant damage mechanisms in Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Composite structure and their interactions under static and cyclic conditions. Particularly, to define the interaction effects between the neighboring laminates. Besides that, the project also aims to determine the mechanism and to observe the phenomenon of inter-ply failure during failure process of the laminates. The study will result in a proposed model to predict the reliability through damage and failure modes that evolve within the composite under both, monotonic and fatigue loading.