| Abstract: | Cyclic loading causes cumulative damage and therefore degrades the inelastic properties of composite materials. Present work investigates the damage development under tension-tension fatique, and the effect of stress ratio on the fatigue life of carbon-carbon (C/C) composites at room temperature at a frequency of 3 Hz. The fatigue damage has been identified through ultrasonic non-destructive technique, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.From the S-N curve it has been observed that the endurance strength of C/C composite is quite high; approximately 85% of the ultimate tensile strength. The fatigue life of C/C composites has also been observed to increase with the stress ratio. Matrix cracks, filament splitting within the yarns, complete delamination and the nucleation of the interfacial flaws have been identified as the failure mechanisms during the fatigue tests. On the other hand, the failure modes during the static test were found to be complete fiber fracture accompanied by partial delamination. A statistical fatigue life distribution for carbon-carbon composites has also been presented in this paper. |
