Influence of strain rate and temperature on mechanical properties of carbon woven-ply PPS thermoplastic laminates under dynamic compression

High-strain-rate compression experiments are conducted on woven carbon fabric/polyphenylene sulfide (CF/PPS) composites in the in-plane and out-of-plane directions at different temperatures (23 °C, 95 °C and 125 °C) with a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) apparatus. Macro-fracture micrographs were used to understand the failure modes. Experimental results indicate that the behavior of CF/PPS composites have strong strain rate and temperature dependence. The in-plane compressive strength and modulus increase approximately linearly with the strain rate, and decrease significantly with increasing temperature. The out-of-plane compressive modulus exhibits noticeable increase at elevated temperatures due to the viscoelastic characteristics of CF/PPS composite, whereas the out-of-plane compressive strength is not sensitive to the temperature. The fracture morphology images reveal that the main failure modes of CF/PPS specimens are delamination accompanied shear failure under in-plane compression loads, and warp fiber bundle breakage under out-of-plane compression loads.