The effect of a thermo-oxidative environment on the behaviour of multistable [0/90] unsymmetric composite plates

The present paper focuses on the effect of a thermo-oxidative environment (150 °C under atmospheric air) on the deformation behaviour of multistable IM7-977-2 [0/90] unsymmetric carbon–epoxy composite plates. Sample curvatures are measured at high temperature as a function of the ageing time by an optical method, by following the displacement of marker points situated on the external side of the plate and by fitting them with an interpolation algorithm. The predictions of a composite plate model taking into account thermo-oxidative affected mechanical properties of the elementary ply and the residual strains produced by thermo-oxidation allow interpreting and understanding the experimental results.