PREDICTION OF DAMAGE ENERGY UNDER CREEP-FATIGUE INTERACTION IN POLYMER MATRIX COMPOSITES

Abstract

In this investigation, the effect of creep-fatigue interaction on the carbon fiber reinforced polymer, UT500/135 material, was studied, using resulted damage energy and its relation to the hysteresis loop energy. By testing many of specimens under fatigue test with different hold times at 50oC. The results showed that the occupation ratio of the damaging energy is very small compare to that for other materials as ferrous materials, and that most of the dissipated energy is transformed into heat.On the other hand, the relation between cracked area per cycle with the damage energy was determined, so the results showed that this relation can be used as a useful tool to estimate the life of the material