Mode I fracture toughness with fiber bridging of unidirectional composite laminates under cryogenic temperature

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites have widely been used in the aerospace field owing to their excellent mechanical properties. However, composite structures often fail under complex space environmental conditions. In particular, the fiber bridging and cryogenic temperature may greatly change the fracture toughness of CFRP composites. Herein, the effects of cryogenic temperature and fiber bridging on the fracture toughness of unidirectional composite laminates were experimentally examined by double cantilever beam (DCB) testing at different temperatures (room temperature, −50 °C, −70 °C, −100 °C, −150 °C, and −180 °C). Different calculation methods of fracture toughness were used and the results were compared. A method without measuring the delamination length at low temperatures was used and the results were consistent with other methods. The average difference in fracture toughness values was less than 5 %. The fiber-bridging microstructures of composites under cryogenic temperatures were examined by confocal microscopy along with the geometric morphology and parameters of surface roughness. The results suggested changes in the matrix failure mechanism at −50 °C, resulting in maximum fracture toughness, which is 26.45 % higher than that at room temperature. A semi-analytic approach was then proposed to express the bridge stress, and a bilinear cohesive zone model was established to simulate the delamination of composite laminates at low temperatures. Overall, the numerical data agreed well with the experimental results (peak force maximum error of 17 %), suggesting the usefulness of the proposed method for the prediction of interlamination properties and structural damage design of composite structures at cryogenic temperature.