The Effect of Solid Particle Erosion on the Mechanical Properties and Fatigue Life of Fiber-reinforced Composites

Abstract

The effect of solid particle erosion on the strength and fatigue properties of E-glass/epoxy composite is investigated. Solid particle erosion with SiC particles of 400–500 μm in diameter is simulated on 12-ply [45°/–45°/0°/45°/–45°/0°]_S E-glass/epoxy composites with a constant particle velocity of 42.5 m/s and a solid particle to air volume ratio of 6 kg/m³ at impact angles of 90, 60, and 30° for 30, 60, 90, and 120 s. Damaged and undamaged specimens are subjected to tensile tests while monitoring their acoustic emission (AE) activity. An erosion damage parameter is defined as a function of the particle impact angle and the erosion duration to determine the residual tensile strength of the composite. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the erosion-damaged specimens reveal that the same damage mechanism occurs at different impact angles. The AE stress delay parameter is used to predict the residual tensile strength of erosion-damaged composites. Tension–tension fatigue tests are performed on virgin specimens and specimens exposed to erosion damage of 60 and 90s at 90° particle impact angle to observe the effects of erosion damage on the fatigue life. A modified Basquin's equation is defined to predict the fatigue life of the erosion-damaged specimens.

Keywords

composite erosion damage acoustic emission fatigue

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ibrahim, A.T. , Ballout, Y. and Talia, J.E. (1991). An Attempt to Unify the Models Used for Ductile and Brittle Solid Particle Erosion, Journal of Engineering Materials, 13: 63–70.

Barkoula, N.-M. and Karger-Kocsis, J. (2002). Processes and Influencing Parameters of the Solid Particle Erosion of Polymers and their Composites, Journal of Materials Science, 37(18): 3807–3820.

Harsha, A.P. , Tewari, U.S. and Venkatraman, B. (2003). Solid Particle Erosion Behavior of Various Polyaryletherketone Composites, Wear, 254: 693–712.

Grossman, E. and Gouzman, I. (2003). Space Environment Effects on Polymers in Low Earth Orbit, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, 208: 48–57.

Zhou, R. , Lu, D.H. , Jinag, Y.H. and Li, Q.N. (2005). Mechanical Properties and Erosion Wear Resistance of Polyurethane Matrix Composites, Wear, 259: 676–683.

Miyoshi, K. , Sutter, J.K. , Mondry, R.J. , Bowman, C. , Ma, K. , Horan, R.A. , Naik, S.K. and Cupp, R.J. (2003). Measurement of Erosion Wear Volume Loss on Bare and Coated Polymer Matrix Composites, NASA/TM-2003-212628.

Roy, M. , Vishwanathan, B. and Sundararajan, G. (1994). The Solid Particle Erosion of Polymer Matrix Composites, Wear, 171: 149–161.

Barkoula, N.-M. , Karger-Kocsis, J. and Papanicolaou, G.C. (2002). Prediction of the Residual Tensile Strength after Solid Particle Erosion of UD-GF/PP Composites, Journal of Composite Materials, 36(14): 1745–1756.

Miyazaki, N. and Takeda, S. (1993). Solid Particle Erosion of Fiber Reinforced Plastics, Journal of Composite Materials, 27(1): 21–31.

10.

Miyazaki, N. and Hamao, T. (1996). Effect of Interfacial Strength on Erosion Behavior of FRPs, Journal of Composite Materials, 30(1): 35–50.

11.

Miyazaki, N. and Hamao, T. (1994). Solid Particle Erosion of Thermoplastic Resins Reinforced by Short Fibers, Journal of Composite Materials, 28(9): 871–883.

12.

Miyazaki, N. and Funakura, S. (1998). Solid Particle Erosion Behavior of FRP Degraded by Hot Water, Journal of Composite Materials, 32(13): 1295–1305.

13.

Miyazaki, N. and Funakura, S. (1996). Solid Particle Erosion Behavior of Metal Matrix Composites, Journal of Composite Materials, 30(15): 1670–1682.

14.

Williams, J.H. (1977). Acoustic Emission Monitoring of Fiber Reinforced Composite Materials and Structures, Artech Corp., Falls Church, VA.

15.

Scott, P. (2002). Heads on Tails, Scientific America, 286: 24–25.

16.

Maji, A.K. and Sahu, R. (1994). Acoustic Emission from Reinforced Concrete, Experimental Mechanics, 34(9): 379–388.

17.

Wu, W. (1991, August). Acoustic Emissions Reveal Fiber/Matrix Bond Strength, Advanced Materials & Processes, 39–40.

18.

Karger-Kocsis, J. and Czigany, T. (1993). Fracture Behavior of Glass-Fiber Mat-Reinforced Structural Nylon RIM Composites Studied by Microscope and Acoustic Emission Techniques, Journal of Materials Science, 28(9): 2438–2448.

19.

Farrows, G.J. , Hughes, J.D.H. and Darby, M.I. (1994). Acoustic Emission from Single Carbon Fibers and Model Micro-composites, J. Phys. D: Applied Physics, 27(3): 644–651.

20.

Pocheco, T. , Hashemi, H.N. and Sallam, H.M. (1996). Acoustic Emission in a Nextel 440 Fiber Reinforced 6061 Al Composite, Journal of Acoustic Emission, 14: 85–96.

21.

Shan, D. and Hashemi, H.N. (1999). Fatigue-life Prediction of SiC Particulate Reinforced Aluminum Alloy 6061 Matrix Composite Using AE Stress Delay Concept, Journal of Materials Science, 34(13): 3263–3273.

22.

Shan, D. and Hashemi, H.N. (1999). Evaluation of Heat Damage on B4C Particulate Reinforced Aluminum Alloy Matrix Composite Using Acoustic Emission Techniques, Material Science and Engineering, A266: 8–17.

23.

Shan, D. (1998). Damage Prediction of Particle Reinforced Aluminum Composite with Acoustic Emission Technique, M.S. Thesis, Northeastern University, Boston, MA.

24.

Hashemi, H.N. , Kasomino, P. and Saniei, N. (1998) Nondestructive Evaluation of Fiberglass-Reinforced Plastic Subjected to Localized Heat Damage Using Acoustic Emission, Journal of Acoustic Emission, 15(1–4): 33–42.

25.

Hashemi, H.N. , Kasomino, P. and Saniei, N. (1999). Nondestructive Evaluation of Fiberglass reinforced Plastic Subjected to Combined Localized Heat Damage and Fatigue Damage Using Acoustic Emission (1999). Journal of Nondestructive Evaluation, 18(4): 127–137.

26.

Williams, J.H. and Lee, S.S. (19830. Acoustic Emission Characterization Using AE [Parameter] Delay, Materials Evaluation, 27: 27–32.

27.

Hashemi, H.N. , Cohen, M.D. , Zotos, J. and Poormand, R. (1986). Ultrasonic Characteristics of Graphite/Epoxy Composite Material Subject to Fatigue and Impacts, Journal of Nondestructive Evaluation, 5: 119–131.

28.

ASTM D 3039-76 (1976). Standard Test Method for Tension Properties of Fiber-Resin Composites ASTM, Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Aug 27, pp. 118–122.

29.

ASTM E 976-94. Standard Guide for Determining the Reproducibility of Acoustic Emission Sensor Response, ASTM, Philadelphia, PA.

30.

Bannantine, J.A. , Comer, J.J. and Handrock, J.L. (1990). Fundamentals of Metal Fatigue Analysis, pp. 69–70, Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.