About the contribution of viscoelastoplasticity to the fatigue behavior of thermoplastic- and thermosetting-based comosites

The present work was aimed at investigating the influence of the matrix visco-elastoplasticbehavior on the high-temperature fatigue behaviour of carbon woven-ply TP (PPS)-and TS (Epoxy)-based laminates. A fractography analysis showed that matrix-rich areas at the vicinity ±45° plies proved to be instrumental in modifiyng the damage chronology and the fatigue behaviour of angle-ply and quasi-isotropic laminates.In order to evaluate the contribution of viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity to the thermo-mechanical response of C/TP laminates at T>Tg, a linear spectral viscoelastic model and a generalized Norton-type viscoplastic model have been implemented int the Finite Elements code Cast3m. A digital image correlation technique has been used to validate the model's ability to predict the response of high gradient structures to various loading.