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Author
Tang, H. C. | Nguyen, T. | Chuang, T. J. | Chin, J. W. | Wu, H. F. | Lesko, J.
Title
Temperature Effects on Fatigue of Polymer Composites.
Coporate
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ., Blacksburg
Book or Conf
Composites Engineering, 7th Annual International Conference. ICCE/7. Proceedings. Sponsored and Organized for Composites Engineering and College of Engineering, University of New Orleans. July 2-8, 2000, Denver, CO, Hui, D., Editors, 861-862 p., 2000
Keywords
composite materials | temperature effects | fatigue (materials)
Abstract
Fiber-reinforced polymeric composites provide lightweight, high strength, and corrosive resistance to severe environmental exposures. These composites have been extensively used in aerospace and military application over the last three decades and are being extended into civil engineering applications. However, there is little quantitative research on the effects of civil engineering environments, namely, water, sea water, temperature, concrete pore solution, ultraviolet light, and loading on the fatigue of polymeric composites. We have developed a fatigue model, for predicting the fatigue life of fiber-reinforced polymeric composites, that incorporates applied maximum stress, stress amplitude, loading frequency, residual tensile modulus, and material constants. The model has been verified with experimental fatigue data of a glass fiber/vinyl ester composite in various environments: air, fresh water, and saltwater at 30 deg C. This study continues to investigate the effects on fatigue life by the change of temperature. Both the residual mechanical properties at specified loading cycles and the number of cycles at which the specimens fail are measured. The results show, for the material used in this study, that the fatigue life in these aqueous environments at 65 deg C is about the same as that at 30 deg C, but the fatigue life at 4 deg C is significantly longer than that at 30 deg C. Based on these experimental data, the material constants, m and C, are derived as functions of temperature, T.