In situ damage monitoring of cross-ply laminates using acoustic emission

‘Damage tolerance' is used to describe the attribute of a structure associated with the retention of the required residual strength throughout its service life, while irreversible damage mechanisms are active within the structure itself. ‘Design for damage tolerance' is based on the identification and quantification of the various damage mechanisms that result in the alteration (mainly deterioration) of the material properties. These may alter the material response to thermomechanical loads. In the present paper, transparent glass fibre reinforced epoxy laminates were used to study the damage evolution sequence under tensile loading. Acoustic emission was employed as a non-destructive technique for the in situ monitoring of the active damage mechanisms until the final failure of the material. Pattern recognition algorithms were utilised to classify the acquired acoustic emission signals and associate them to active damage mechanisms. Experimental findings were compared to theoretical model predictions.