LAUSR

Abstract This paper presents a study of the progressive damage of 5-harness satin weave carbon/PPS composite plates having three layers through experimental and numerical investigations. Uniaxial tensile tests were conducted for three different orientations of the composite material samples (warp, diagonal and weft) for their characterization at room temperature. The damage initiation and its progress were visualized via CCD cameras. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) analyses were used to quantify the evolution of strain fields, where the resulting failure markings were characterized via microscopic analyses. In parallel, a three-dimensional finite element model of the test was developed using ABAQUS/Explicit to reproduce the behavior of the material, where a three-dimensional Hashin damage initiation criteria with its complementary damage progress law was implemented using a VUMAT subroutine. Cohesive zone elements were used between the composite layers to simulate the delamination in the course of deformation. A good agreement was achieved between the experimentally obtained strain fields using DIC and the numerical results. Microscopic analyses in the unnotched and notched specimens revealed the active damage modes such as the intra-ply damage and the delamination. It was found that the fiber fracture was the dominating failure mechanism for all the studied specimens.