COMPRESSIVE FAILURE OF NOTCHED CARBON-FIBER COMPOSITES

We present an investigation into the compressive fracture properties of carbon fibre/epoxy laminates. Unnotched and notched strengths are reported for a wide range of 'lay-ups', and results are interpreted in terms of existing theories of strength. In all cases, we find that compressive failure is governed by plastic microbuckling of the 0-degrees plies. For unnotched laminates, the failure strain is independent of lay-up configuration, suggesting that a critical strain to failure, or maximum strain criterion can predict the failure point adequately. In tests on notched panels, the growth of damage from the edge of a single hole is examined. For notched materials, the failure strength and damage zone size at failure support the prediction of the Soutis, Fleck and Smith model.