Fatigue damage mechanisms in short fiber reinforced PBT+PET GF30

The fatigue damage of a glass-reinforced PolyButylene Terephthalate and PolyEthylene Terephthalate with the fiber volume fraction of 30% (PBT+PET GF30) is investigated by means of various techniques. Fatigue tests at R = 0.1 are carried out on dogbone specimens and tubular specimens with different fiber orientations. The macroscopic evolution of the material behavior is evaluated and fatigue damage mechanisms are observed with a replica technique, Infrared imaging and scanning electron microscopy. A fatigue damage scenario is finally proposed. It is shown that the propagation of a single macroscopic crack is not the major fatigue mechanism under fatigue loading. Damage is spatially distributed in the material and the classical circular crack at the end of the fiber is confirmed as the based fatigue mechanisms. It is also shown that the damage observed alongside the fibers is related to spatial distribution of fiber rather than stress distribution around one single fiber.