Indian Conference on Applied Mechanics (INCAM) 2017

MNNIT Allahabad, 5 7 July 2017

Load sequence effect on the damage progression of impacted

quasi-isotropic CFRP laminates under variable amplitude loading

Mathew John and Raghu V. Prakash

*Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai, India, 600 036.

mathewjon18@gmail.com

Abstract

The carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) used in the design of safety-critical aircrafts structures are
susceptible to damage caused by low-velocity impacts during manufacture and while in service. This can
cause matrix cracks which in turn will trigger other failure modes leading to reduction in its residual
strength and stiffness, when these structures are subjected to a variety of operating loading conditions
such as constant or variable (spectrum) cyclic loadings. In this study for finding the load sequence effect
on quasi-isotropic CFRP material under variable amplitude cyclic loading , the stiffness is used as a
parameter for evaluating damage progression. A typical fighter aircraft spectrum loading Prog-FALSTAFF
is used with the sequence of intermediate block cycles of constant amplitude organized either in an
ascending order of magnitude viz., low to high (Lo-Hi), or in a descending order of magnitude (Hi-Lo). It is
observed that the stiffness degradation is highly dependent on the load sequence under higher energies
of impact (35J and 51J). Between the two load sequences, Lo-Hi sequence results in greater damage in
terms of stiffness degradation compared to Hi-Lo sequence loading.

1. Introduction

Advanced composite materials with high specific stiffness and strength are used in the field of weight-critical
structural applications such as in aircraft, wind turbine blade, ship hull etc., where they are subjected with a variety
of operating loadings conditions. The structures are loaded from arbitrary directions and are subjected to a variety
of cyclic loading conditions (typically, variable amplitude loading). Among the fiber reinforced plastics (FRPs), the
carbon reinforced FRP composite materials (CFRP) are being widely used in the design of safety-critical, light-
weight, energy efficient aircraft structures and these structures can be subjected with low velocity impacts (due to
accidental tool drops, bird hits, hailstorms etc.) which in turn will deteriorate its residual strength and residual life.
These low velocity impacts are considered critical as these cause barely visible impact damage (BVID) which can
result in significant reduction in mechanical properties. Impact loading can result in the formation of matrix cracks
which is the first degradation mechanism which could trigger the other failure modes such as de-lamination, fiber-
matrix interfacial de-bonding and fiber breakage resulting in unprecedented failures during service.
Many parameters influence the fatigue performance of composites viz. the fiber type, matrix type, type of
reinforcement structure (unidirectional, mat, fabric, braiding etc), laminate stacking sequence, environmental
conditions, loading conditions/sequencing and boundary conditions [1]. Moreover, the composite materials are
inhomogeneous and anisotropic. Due to these reasons their fatigue response is more complicated than that of
isotropic metal counterparts. Post et al. tried to identify the effect of load order on the residual strength in an E-
glass and vinyl ester composite laminate subjected to variable amplitude fatigue loading [2]. Extensive research
effort is required to predict the damage accumulation and fatigue life for composites under variable loading
conditions- this could be in the form of experimental studies which provide inputs for developing fatigue damage
accumulation models to predict failure life under realistic loadings. The present study aims at understanding the
load sequence effect under variable amplitude cyclic loading conditions under various impact energies. Here a
typical fighter aircraft spectrum loading called Programmed Fighter Aircraft Loading STAndard For Fatigue
Evaluation (Prog-FALSTAFF) is used with the sequence of intermediate block cycles of constant amplitude
organized either in an ascending order of magnitude viz., low to high (Lo-Hi), or in a descending order of
magnitude (Hi-Lo) [3].

2. Experimental Method

2.1 Materials and CFRP laminate preparation: The materials used for making the CFRP laminates are (i) The
carbon woven rowing mat (WRM) of 500 gsm and 0.42 mm thick, sourced from Hindoostan Technical Fabrics as
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the reinforcement and (ii) commercially available Araldite LY556 (unmodified liquid epoxy resin based on
Bisphenol-A) and the curing agent Aradur HY951 (unmodified aliphatic polyamine try ethylene tetra amine)
supplied by Huntsman, India as the epoxy resin matrix. The epoxy resin is weighed to keep the fiber matrix ratio
1:1 for the hand lay- up process. The mixing ratio of epoxy to hardener was 10:1 by weight. Laminates were
prepared using hand layup technique, by laying up 8 layers of carbon fabric with epoxy as matrix with quasi-
isotropic (QI) stalking sequence [0#90/45/0#90/45]s . The laminates of size 300 x 300 mm with 4.5 mm thick
were then cured at 80 C for 3 hours in a compression molding machine. Tensile test specimens of size 250mm x
25mm x 4.5 mm and fatigue test specimens of size of 250mm x 45mm x 4.5mm were cut from the laminates. The
fatigue specimens were machined to an hour-glass shape with 35mm width at the center to ensure damage
concentration at the minimum width section.

2.2 Low velocity impact test: For the post-impact fatigue studies, the specimens were impacted with the
required energy levels 35 J and 51 J. An impact testing machine with a drop-weight impactor of mass 5.2 kg with a
hemispherical tip of 16 mm diameter was used for causing an impact damage of the required energy levels. The
load during impact was measured using a load cell and the displacement was measured using an LVDT that was
mounted beneath the drop impactor. Care was taken to ensure that the impactor did only single impact, by
designing a stopper for arresting multiple impacts on the specimen. The typical load-displacement curves for these
two energy levels are shown in the figure 1. The energy absorbed by the specimens from the load displacement
curve for the impact tests is given in table 1.

600

400
Load, N

35J
200
51J

0
0 5 10 15
Displacement, mm

Fig.1 Load displacement response of Quasi-Isotropic laminate subjected to 35J and 51J drop impact energies.

Table 1. Energy absorbed by the specimens

Impact Energy Velocity (m/s) Energy Absorbed (J)
35 J 3.66 2.75
51 J 4.47 4.97

Fig 2. The impact test result for one of the 51J impacted specimen- the energy absorbed

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The energy actually absorbed by one of the specimen (51J impacted) which is calculated from the corresponding
force-displacement curve of the impact test is plotted against time and is shown in Fig.2.

2.3 Fatigue Test: Prior to fatigue testing, the tensile tests as per ASTM D 3039 were conducted on un-impacted
and impacted laminate specimens for determining the load range for the fatigue cycling. The tensile as well as the
fatigue experiments were carried out using a 100 kN capacity MTS 810 servo-hydraulic testing machine [Fig.3].
The eight layer quasi-isotropic specimens had an ultimate tensile strength of 313 MPa. Fatigue tests were then
conducted under constant amplitude (CA) sinusoidal waveform cycling at a stress ratio (R) of 0.1 at a cyclic
frequency of 5 Hz for unimpacted (pristine) specimen and under programmed FALSTAFF spectrum loading with
the load range as shown in Table 2. One of the fatigue tested specimen completed 1 million cycles [35J impacted-
FALSTAFF (Hi-Lo) loading] is shown in the Fig.4.

Fig.3. MTS-810 computer-controlled Fig.4. 35J impacted specimen subjected

servo- hydraulic test system with fatigue (Hi-Lo) after 1 million cycles

Table 2. Load range selected for constant amplitude and variable

amplitude fatigue loading conditions

Specimen Test Condition Load Range (kN)

Un-Impacted CA 2.25- 22.5
Impacted Prog-FALSTAFF 0 - 8.82

The programmed FALSTAFF spectrum used for understanding the load sequence effect under spectrum
loading consists of 18 major loads of FALSTAFF spectrum in its original order and equivalent block of marker
loads (for minor loads) applied after every major load. To study the load sequencing effect, first the minor block of
loads are applied in the ascending order (Low to High) and is designated as FALSTAFF Lo-Hi and, in the second
case the minor block loads are arranged in the descending order (High to Low) and is designated as FALSTAFF
Hi-Lo as shown in figure 5(a) and 5(b).

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 Indian Conference on Applied Mechanics (INCAM) 2017
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FALSTAFF Lo-Hi

Percentage of maximum load

100

80

60

40

20

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
2 x No. of cycles

Fig 5(a). Typical programmed block of FALSTAFF- Lo-Hi

FALSTAFF Hi-Lo
100
Percentage of maximul load

80

60

40

20

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
2 x No of cycles

Fig 5(b). Typical programmed block of FALSTAFF- Hi-Lo

The fatigue tests were conducted under tension-tension loading condition (T-T) by truncating all the negative
loads in the spectrum to zero.

3. Results and Discussions

The stiffness which is considered as one of the damage progression parameter in fatigue life prediction is
estimated from the unloading segment of load-displacement loop over a window of 50-90% of maximum stress
applied during fatigue cycling. The load, displacement data during fatigue test was continuously monitored for post
processing of stiffness. The force-displacement loops showing variation of stiffness (loading/unloading) at
different points of spectrum loading is shown in figure 6. In order to facilitate the evaluation of stiffness in the case
of spectrum loading, constant amplitude cycles were interspersed with FALSTAFF loading at the end of every
block (200 flights equivalent) and stiffness is calculated from these cycles periodically. Stiffness data thus
estimated at periodic intervals of cycles from the unloading segment, is plotted against the number of fatigue
cycles for the 35J and 51J impacted quasi-isotropic specimens tested under programmed FALSTAFF spectrum
loading is shown in figure 7.

Force- displacement curves (51 J, Lo-Hi)

10
9
8
7
Force. kN

6
5
Initial cycle
4
3 0.2 million cycle
2 1 million cycle
1
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Displacement, mm

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 Indian Conference on Applied Mechanics (INCAM) 2017
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Fig.6. A typical force-displacement loops at different cycles indicating damage progression

The initial stiffness of specimens for same energy levels of impact was found to vary over a small range as
seen in Fig.7. It may be due to the fact that they are cut from different laminates, impact damage caused to the
specimens may be different due to the anisotropic nature of the material, and depending on other impact
parameters [2]. It necessitates the normalization of stiffness and life (number of cycles).The initial stiffness of the
specimens obtained from the unloading segment of load-displacement data (over the window of 50-90% of
maximum stress) of the first cycle calculated is used as a reference for each stress level of fatigue testing for
stiffness normalization. The normalised stiffness (K/K0 ) plotted against the normalised cycles (N/N0 ) is shown in
figure 8.

Stiffness vs. No. of cycles curve

30

25
35J Lo-Hi
Stiffness (kN/mm)

20
35J Hi-Lo
15

51J Lo-Hi
10

51J Hi-Lo
5

0
0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000 700000 800000

Number of Cycles

Fig.7. Stiffness vs. No of cycles for Quasi-Isotropic layup of woven CFRP laminates

Fig.8. Normalized stiffness variation as a function of normalized life

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 Indian Conference on Applied Mechanics (INCAM) 2017
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The stiffness degradation, which is one of the life prediction parameter, of the specimens impacted with 35J
and 51 J energy levels under variable amplitude fatigue loading with different load sequence is shown in figure 7.
It is evident from this experimental data that the damage progression is a function of stiffness degradation and
depends on the initial damage caused by the impact. It is also found that the load sequence effect has a major role
in the fatigue damage especially under post-impacted conditions i.e., the stiffness degradation caused by
FALSTAFF spectrum loading in the ascending order (Lo-Hi) is higher than that under the descending order (Hi-
Lo) for the same energy level of impact (say 35J or 51J), as seen in figure 8. This may be due to the fact that the
low amplitude loads in the spectrum block which is generally attributed for delamination under fatigue loading may
enhance damage growth when it is followed by high amplitude loads by ply cracking or in otherwise the
contribution of low loads by accelerated delamination is not significant when it is applied after higher load
amplitudes as in the case with Hi-Lo loading block.

Fig.9. The bar chart showing the stiffness variation for QI specimens under fatigue loading.

To quantitatively express the effect of load sequence on stiffness variation, the stiffness at 0.2 million cycle
with reference to the respective first cycle stiffness values is provided in the bar chart (figure 9). The studies
conducted on pristine sample with the constant amplitude (considered as severe loading, table.2) shows negligible
stiffness reduction and the specimen subjected with 23J impacted subjected with FALSTAFF Lo-Hi variable
amplitude fatigue loading shows more or less the same stiffness at these two cyclic loading points under
consideration, as shown in figure 9. Hence it can be concluded that the load sequence effect can be observed
only at higher damage levels and hence the results of 35J and 51J impacted is emphasized here. This shows that
the initial conditions such as the extent of matrix cracking, fiber breakage and the delamination caused from the
impact are very important factors that determines the load sequence effect. It can be seen that the percentage
loss of stiffness for impacted specimens after 200000 cycle with reference to the respective first cycle stiffness
values for 35J is 12.1% and 14.8%, and that for 51J impacted specimens are 15.41% and 20.8 % respectively for
Hi-Lo and Lo-Hi sequences of loading.

4. Conclusions

The stiffness degradation, which is one of the life prediction parameter of fatigue damage progression in quasi -
isotopic CFRP laminates under variable amplitude fatigue loading condition is studied. The load sequence effect is
negligible or not evident at low velocity impacts but is significant as the impact energy absorbed by the laminate
increases. In this study, it is observed that the load sequence effect has a major role in the fatigue damage
progression under post-impacted conditions with higher impact energy levels of 35 J and 51 J. The stiffness
degradation caused by variable amplitude spectrum loading in the ascending order (Lo-Hi) is higher than that
under the descending order (Hi-Lo). This suggests the effect of load sequence on the damage growth under
variable amplitude fatigue loading.

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5. References

[1] Joris Degrieck and Wim Van Paepegem, Fatigue damage modeling of fibre-reinforced composite materials:
Review, ASME Applied Mechanics Reviews vol 54, no 4, July 2001.

[2] Post N.L., Cain J., McDonald K.J, Case S.W., Lesko J.J. Residual strength prediction of composite materials:
Random spectrum loading. Engineering Fracture mechanics 2008; 75:2707-2724.

[3] Mitchenko, E. I., Prakash, R. V., Sunder, R. Fatigue Crack growth under an equivalent FALSTAFF spectrum.
Fatigue Fract. Eng.Mater. Struct. 1995; 18(5) 583595.

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