Volume 12, Issue 6, 2003

INFLUENCE OF THE DAMAGE SEQUENCE IN THE MECHANICAL STRENGTH OF A COMPOSITE MATERIAL OF PEI REINFORCED WITH WOVEN CARBON-FABRIC. A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Garcia, M. A.1, Arguelles, A.2, Castrillo, M. A.2, Fernandez-Canteli, A.2, Vina, J.1,*

1Department of Materials Science, University of Oviedo, 33204 Gijσn, Spain

2 Department of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Oviedo, 33204 Gijon, Spain

(Received 7/03; accepted 10/03)

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to characterise statistically the degradation produced in the tensile breaking strength of a material composed of a PEI thermoplastic matrix reinforced with woven carbon fibre under a sequential permutation of damage. To do so, the statistical theory of extreme values was applied to the experimental results, which enabled us to calculate the probability of failure of the material. The simulated damage corresponding to said series was the following: fatigue up to one million cycles at a maximum stress of 20% of the tensile strength, impact damage with an energy of 2.7 J, accelerated ageing under conditions of 95% relative humidity, a temperature of 70ΊC for a period of 96 hours and finally, thermal ageing at 150ΊC for 360 hours. The experimental results obtained show increments of 5% to losses of 22% in residual strength of that presented by the material in its original state.

Keywords: carbon fibre, PEI, residual strength, extreme value theory

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