Der Bedarf an Kohle­fa­ser-/Epoxid-Verbund­struk­tu­ren wächst aufgrund ihrer Vorteile für die Indus­trie stetig an. Ziel des Projekts ist es, den Verschleiß- und Versa­genspro­zess von diesen Verbund­struk­tu­ren zu beobach­ten und darauf basie­rend ein hochkom­ple­xes Compu­ter­mo­dell zu entwi­ckeln, das das Verfor­men und Versa­gen von Materia­lien im Voraus berech­nen kann.

The market’s demand for carbon fiber/epoxy compo­site has drama­ti­cally increased due to its signi­fi­cant appli­ca­ti­ons and advan­ta­ges in indus­try. Typical loading on the struc­tures that are made up by this material often invol­ves tensile and lateral bending of the compo­site lamina­tes. These include transi­ent and fatigue loading. Carbon fiber/epoxy compo­site struc­tures 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 can later lead to catastro­phic struc­ture failure. Thus, relia­bi­lity assess­ment of the carbon fiber/epoxy compo­site struc­ture is absolut­ely criti­cal, taking into account 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 more relia­ble data.

The project super­vi­sed by Hector Fellow Peter Gumbsch aims to identify the dominant damage mecha­nisms in carbon fiber/epoxy compo­site struc­tures and their inter­ac­tions under static and cyclic condi­ti­ons. It aims, in parti­cu­lar, at defining the inter­ac­tion effects between the neigh­bor­ing lamina­tes. Apart from that, the project also aims to deter­mine the mecha­nism and to observe the pheno­me­non of inter-ply failure during the failure process of carbon fiber/epoxy compo­site lamina­tes. The study should result in a propo­sed model to predict damage and failure modes that evolve within carbon fiber/epoxy compo­site. This model is expec­ted to be able to predict the relia­bi­lity of the carbon fiber/epoxy compo­site under both monoto­nic and fatigue loading.