On the Tensile and Compressive Fatigue Behaviour of Notched CFRP Laminates

This paper describes the experimental results of a set of fatigue tests performed on T300 carbon fiber / epoxy resin laminates cured in autoclave. The effects of anisotropy in laminates lay up have been investigated, as well as the influence of circular hole notches, for both the case of tensile and compressive loading conditions. Due to the high slenderness of specimens, that have the ASTM D3039 standard suggested geometry, a special gripping device has been designed in order to avoid the axial buckling. Fatigue failure probability of the material has been assessed by means of Maximum Likelihood Estimates (MLE) of the experimental data, as a function of the lay-up and load conditions. Eventually, the micrographic analysis of fractured surfaces outlined the combined effects of both the geometry and notches towards the damage behaviour of this kind of material.