ORCID
- Maozhou Meng: 0000-0001-6138-9433
Abstract
Understanding the gradual performance degradation of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) is critical for the design of engineering structures that are expected to be affected by hygrothermal environments. This study aims to investigate the effects of hygrothermal aging on the degradation mechanisms of the mechanical properties and energy absorption of CFRP structures. An experimental database comprising tensile, compressive, and shear tests for CFRP composite laminates (in this study) and axial crushing tests for energy-absorbing structures (from the literature) was constructed, in which all CFRP samples were immersed in deionized water to achieve a saturated water-absorption state. A material constitutive model considering the effects of water absorption and temperature was developed and implemented via the user subroutine VUMAT of the ABAQUS software. The simulated results correlated well with the experimental measurements. Simulation results of axial crushing indicated that the degradation of the inter-layer properties tends to worsen the mismatch between the intra-layer and inter-layer properties, thus significantly degrading the load-carrying capability. Owing to degradation in compressive fracture toughness, the simulated results showed reduced post-crushing integrity, thus indicating a favorable effect on the load-carrying capability.
DOI Link
Publication Date
2024-02-05
Publication Title
Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures
Volume
31
Issue
29
ISSN
1537-6494
Acceptance Date
2024-01-27
Deposit Date
2024-11-01
Embargo Period
2025-02-05
Funding
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52305284), the Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province (2022NSFSC1976), and the Independent Research Project of State Key Laboratory of Rail Transit Vehicle System (2022TPL-T13). The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of the Analysis and Testing Center of Southwest Jiaotong University for the material characterization.
Additional Links
Keywords
Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP), crashworthiness, energy-absorbing mechanisms, FE modeling, hygrothermal aging
First Page
11878
Last Page
11894
Recommended Citation
Chen, D., Wang, Y., Meng, M., Zhu, T., He, Z., & Xiao, S. (2024) 'On crashworthiness and energy-absorbing mechanisms of hygrothermal-aged CFRP structures subjected to quasi-static loads', Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, 31(29), pp. 11878-11894. Available at: 10.1080/15376494.2024.2312451
