Fracture mechanisms and failure analysis of carbon fibre/toughened epoxy composites subjected to compressive loading

This study investigates the failure mechanisms of unidirectional (UD) HTS40/977-2 toughened resin composites subjected to longitudinal compressive loading. A possible sequence of failure initiation and propagation was proposed based on SEM and optical microscopy observations of failed specimens. The micrographs revealed that the misaligned fibres failed in two points upon reaching maximum micro-bending deformation and two planes of fracture were created to form a kink band. Therefore, fibre microbuckling and fibre kinking models were implemented to predict the compressive strength of UD HTS40/977-2 composite laminate. The analysis identified several parameters that were responsible for the microbuckling and kinking failure mechanisms. The effects of these parameters on the compressive strength of the UD HTS40/977-2 composite systems were discussed. The predicted compressive strength using a newly developed combined modes model showed a very good agreement to the measured value.