Semi-destructive methods for evaluating the micro-scale residual stresses of carbon fiber reinforced polymers

Micro-scale residual stress in carbon fiber reinforced polymers have a significant impact on their mechanical performance. The residual stresses in the carbon fibers were released by micro-slotting and micro-ring-core methods using focused ion beam (FIB). The released deformation fields were captured by cross-gratings and mapped by geometric phase analysis (GPA) and digital image correlation (DIC) methods. The in-plane residual stresses in the carbon fibers were experimentally determined to be −40.5 MPa using elastic constitutive relations, which is consistent with the composites cylinder model. The axial compressive residual stresses in the fibers were found to be greater than −100 MPa. Moreover, the maximum value of residual stress in the polymer matrix was observed at the interface, potentially serving as a crack initiation site.