Experimental Investigation of Short-term Creep Behavior of Carbon/epoxy Unidirectional Laminates

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics due to viscoelastic nature of polymer matrix exhibit time- and temperature-dependent response. Creep is a prevalent phenomenon occurs during a constant loading of CFRP laminates whose constituents exhibit thermo-viscoelastic behaviors. In the current study, the creep response of carbon/epoxy laminates is investigated in transverse direction of unidirectional composites under various stress levels and temperatures. The creep characteristics of carbon/epoxy laminates up to 1 and 8 hours is evaluated experimentally for several temperatures and stresses, respectively. It is observed stress level and temperature has mutual effect on nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of carbon/epoxy laminates. The results show, polymer matrix composite materials present nonlinear viscoelastic behavior by increasing either temperature or stress level.