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Structural and Mechanical Characterization of Composites

The characterization of composites such as carbon/epoxy laminates is significant in estimating the reliability and life-time assessment of the components of mechanical structures. The examination of composite microstructure is performed by the image automatic processing method, using the image analyzer to determine the influence of the results on the measured material elastic constants. Since these are the input data for all calculations, the mechanical characterization is describedhere in considerable detail. Possible camposite failures are treated as cracks in mechanically anisotropic materials, evaluated through stress intensity factors that are determined by the newly developed technique of experimental optical method of caustics. The representative application is shown for one type of material, using the experimental equipment adapted for automatic image processing. A part of the experimental procedure are numerical simulations of the optical effect, because its size depends upon the load intensity applied to the specimen, while having a different shape for each situation separately, i.e. different position of the crack and mixed-mode crack opening ratio.

carbon/epoxy laminates; mechanical properties; fracture mechanics; method of caustics; microstructure analysis; volume fraction of fiber

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