HYDROTHERMAL AGING OF CSM-LAMINATE DURING WATER IMMERSION - AN ACOUSTOULTRASONIC STUDY

Reinforced plastic structures, especially those fabricated by hand lay-up from random mat reinforcement (CSM), frequently contain defects. Acousto-ultrasonics represents a very attractive and promising technique for detecting flaws and studying degradation of composite material. Studies of damage under hydrothermal ageing incurred by random fibre-reinforced laminates have been carried out with this technique. It is shown that the stress wave factor is a sensitive indicator of random fibre composite strength reduction due to a hydrothermal effect.