Composites: Part A 69 (2015) 64–71

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Composites: Part A
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesa

Pseudo-ductility and damage suppression in thin ply CFRP angle-ply

laminates
J.D. Fuller ⇑, M.R. Wisnom
Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science, University of Bristol, Queen’s Building, Bristol BS8 1TR, United Kingdom

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Composite materials usage is limited by linear elasticity and the sudden, brittle failure they often exhibit.
Received 30 July 2014 It is possible to mitigate this inherent limitation and enlarge the design space by using thin plies. This
Received in revised form 28 October 2014 paper presents an experimental study, using a spread tow thin ply carbon–epoxy prepreg material with
Accepted 1 November 2014
a cured ply thickness of 0.03 mm, which shows that highly non-linear stress–strain behaviour can be
Available online 10 November 2014
achieved with angle-ply laminates, whilst suppressing the damage mechanisms that normally cause their
premature failure. Several angles between 15° and 45° are investigated in a ½h5 s layup. It is shown that
Keywords:
for all angles delaminations are suppressed, allowing considerable pseudo-ductile strains to develop.
A. Laminates
B. Delamination
Significant fibre rotations take place, permitted by matrix plasticity, leading to a post-yield stiffening
C. Laminate mechanics of the laminate, as the fibres reorient towards the direction of loading.
D. Mechanical testing Ó 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

1. Introduction behaviour was associated with a ‘stiffness loss’ brought about by

the accumulation of damage. This stiffness loss was coupled with
Carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites are well a strain energy release rate (G) approach employed to predict the
known to possess high stiffness and strength. They are, however, initiation of delamination. The value of G was found to depend only
limited by brittle failure, which often occurs without warning on the laminate stacking sequence and location of delaminations.
and is catastrophic. This linear-elastic to failure stress–strain Crossman et al. [5] also used a strain energy concept to deter-
behaviour reduces design allowables and precludes the realisation mine the failure mechanisms of ½25=90n s laminates (n = 1, 2, 3),
of the materials’ full potential. Achieving non-linear stress–strain highlighting the importance of the ply thickness in calculating
behaviour, with the ability to yield, as metallics do, is therefore the value of G. It is shown that increasing the number of 90° plies,
highly desirable. Non-linear behaviour and high strains to failure not only decreases the stress levels required for matrix cracking
have been demonstrated previously with ±45° angle-ply laminates, and delaminations to occur, but also alters the order in which they
often used to determine the shear properties of materials. In these take place – showing a direct interaction between the damage
cases, however, the large fibre angle leads to relatively low values modes. Treating the adjustment in the number of 90° layers as
of modulus and failure stress. Reducing the fibre angle (towards effectively changing ply thickness, it is postulated that reducing
the loading direction) leads to a higher initial modulus, but despite ply thickness could suppress microcracking and delaminations.
promise of high strains to failure, laminates of ±h (where h is in the Investigating angle-ply laminates, Leguillon et al. [7] examined
range 15–30°) often fail prematurely – before the development of edge delamination initiation in [hn/hn]s laminates (n = 1–8),
non-linearity. Failure of angle-ply laminates is primarily due to comparing tensile test data with predictions. Of the two methods
matrix cracking and delaminations due to high free-edge interlam- implemented, both showed decreases in delamination initiation
inar stresses [1]. These failure mechanisms have been widely stress with increased layer thickness. Herakovich [8] investigated
studied [2–6]. these edge effects using [(+h/h)2]s and [+h2/h2]s laminates, where
O’Brien [2,3] characterised the onset and development of delam- h = 10°, 30°, 45°. For all angles tested, the tensile strength, tensile
inations in [+hn/hn/90n]s laminates. Delaminations at h/h and h/ strain and toughness (in this case defined as the area under the
90 interfaces were seen to initiate from the edges of the specimens stress–strain curve) were each increased for the laminates with dis-
following matrix cracking in 90° plies. A non-linear stress–strain persed plies. For the 30° and 45° laminates containing dispersed
plies, the increased failure stress and strain allowed more non-lin-
⇑ Corresponding author. earity to develop, highlighting the potential this type of laminate
E-mail address: [email protected] (J.D. Fuller).
possesses for ductility.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2014.11.004
1359-835X/Ó 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
 J.D. Fuller, M.R. Wisnom / Composites: Part A 69 (2015) 64–71 65

For both the theoretical approaches taken, Leguillon et al. [7] 11 ¼ 1:9%) and SK Chemicals K50 resin, a semi-toughened epoxy.
present sharp increases in delamination initiation stress for ply Prior to testing of angle-ply laminates, full characterisation of the
thicknesses less than 0.125 mm. Expense and damage to fibres material was necessary. Quasi-static tensile tests were performed
during the manufacturing process, however, have limited work on ½016 ; ½9016  and ½455 s laminates. To ensure sufficient data
on reducing the ply thickness below the standard. Recent advances was collected, batches of 10 specimens were fabricated for each
in tow-spreading technology have allowed so called thin prepregs layup. Unidirectional (UD) samples had a gauge length of
to be produced. Sasayama et al. [9] and the Industrial Technology 100 mm and width of 10 mm, with glass fibre/epoxy prepreg end
Centre of Fukui Prefecture in Japan developed a pneumatic tech- tabs of length 40 mm. In all tests end tabs were a ½ð90=0Þ2 s
nique, which is described in detail by Sihn et al. [10]. cross-ply laminate of 2 mm thickness. The ½455 s samples had a
Several studies have been undertaken [10–13] to experimen- gauge length of 150 mm, width of 15 mm and end tabs of
tally investigate the general behaviour of thin ply laminates. Sihn 40 mm. Three-point micrometer measurements of laminate thick-
et al. [10] performed both static and fatigue tension tests of un- ness, performed prior to testing, yielded a cured ply thickness
notched and notched quasi-isotropic (QI) specimens, impact and (CPT) of 0.03 mm (CV = 0.34%). All tests were conducted, using an
compression-after-impact tests on thin ply laminates (ply thick- Instron hydraulic-actuated test machine, under displacement
ness, t p ¼ 0:04 mm). In all cases these laminates showed less crack- control, using cross-head rates of 1 mm/min for UD samples and
ing, delaminations and splitting than specimens with thicker plies 2 mm/min for the ½455 s . The results are shown in Table 1. Deter-
ðtp ¼ 0:2 mmÞ of the same material. Results from fatigue testing of mination of E11 allowed a fibre volume fraction (V f ) of 42% to be
the un-notched specimens show the potential of thin ply material. calculated using the rules of mixtures.
It was demonstrated that, after 50,000 cycles at 60% of the The angles chosen for further tensile testing were ±15°, ±20°,
strength, the thin ply laminates maintained stiffness and strength. ±25°, ±30°. All layups were of the same stacking sequence: ½h5 s ,
The thick ply laminates lost in the region of 17% from both the ori- as used for the ±45° laminates. The dimensions and rate of
ginal stiffness and strength. X-ray images taken prior to failure displacement for these samples were also the same as for the
show very little development of damage within the thin ply lami- ±45°. Batches of five specimens were prepared for each layup.
nates, indicating their superior damage suppression capabilities. All strain data was captured using an Imetrum Video Extensom-
Yokozeki et al. [11,14] conducted investigations covering the com- eter and associated software. A rectangular grid of video gauge tar-
pressive strength and damage resistance of thin ply QI laminates gets was set up, in order to record both longitudinal, x and
under both in-plane [11]and out-of-plane [14] loadings. In all transverse, y , strains. Calculation of fibre rotations and shear
cases, the thin ply laminates were shown to be more resistant to stress and strain requires knowledge of both of these. In all cases,
damage accumulation. This is particularly noticeable in transverse the true stress and strain have been computed from the captured
indentation tests. Thick ply laminates ðt p ¼ 0:14 mmÞ exhibited engineering strains to account for the change in cross-sectional
considerable delaminations on the back face, whereas the thin area at high strains.
ply specimens ðtp ¼ 0:07 mmÞ showed only internal delaminations
at the same applied load. As presented by Sihn et al. [10], this 2.1. Calculation of fibre rotations
suppression of damage led to sudden brittle failure. Ogihara and
Nakatani [13] presented work on carbon/epoxy angle-ply lami- Fibre rotations have been considered in a similar fashion to the
nates, also concentrating on the effect of ply thickness. Specimens approaches taken by other studies [17,16,18]. The fibres are taken
of ±45° and ±67.5° both showed increases in tensile strength with as inextensible and idealised to act in a scissoring motion, realign-
ply thicknesses of 0.05 mm (½h12 s ) rather than 0.15 mm ([h4/ ing towards the direction of applied stress. This gives rise to the
h4]s). A mesoscale continuum damage mechanics model, devised concept of ‘excess length’, whereby the reorientation of the fibres
by Ladeveze and LeDantec [15], was employed to show also that allows further strain to be taken by the laminate. The updated fibre
the thin-ply laminates were significantly more damage resistant. angle, h0 , is related to the strains, x and y , in Eq. (1), where h is the
Highly non-linear strains, in excess of 15%, were recorded for the original fibre angle of the laminate.
½4512 s laminates tested under quasi-static tension. At these large  
tanðhÞ þ y
strains, the effect of the geometric rearrangement of fibres towards h0 ¼ arctan ð1Þ
1 þ x
the loading direction (known as fibre scissoring) becomes impor-
tant, as stated by Wisnom [16] and Herakovich et al. [17]. Wisnom
[16] showed how taking account of fibre rotations for in-plane 2.2. Definition of yield and pseudo-ductility
shear testing leads to a more accurate representation of both the
shear stresses and strains in a ½45s laminate. Herakovich et al. ‘Pseudo-ductility’, in this case, refers to the geometric effect of
[17] coupled fibre rotations with the Ladeveze and LeDantec model fibre reorientation as well as yielding of the matrix. For clarity, yield
to emphasise the importance of their inclusion when predicting stress, rY , and pseudo-ductile strain, d are shown graphically in
the stress–strain response of ½453 s laminates. Fig. 1. The yield stress is defined as the point of intersection between
In this paper, experimental studies of thin ply angle-ply CFRP the laminate stress–strain curve and a straight line of the initial
laminates loaded under quasi-static tension are presented. The modulus offset by 0.1% strain (shown as position ‘A’ on Fig. 1).
effect of fibre rotation on the laminate stress–strain behaviour The pseudo-ductile strain is the failure strain minus the strain at
and the possibilities for a pseudo-ductile response are investigated. the same stress level on a straight line of the initial modulus.
Analyses of the fractured laminates, including X-ray computed
tomography (XCT) scans are presented to examine the damage 2.3. Determination of shear stress and strain
resistance of spread tow thin ply prepreg material.
As a change in the orientation of the fibres is accounted for in
2. Experimental methods this study, it is therefore important to apply this to the calculation

Table 1
All testing has been performed using Skyflex USN020A, a Elastic properties of Skyflex USN020A.
commercially available spread tow carbon fibre/epoxy prepreg
E11 101.7 GPa E22 6.0 GPa
produced by SK Chemicals. This material consists of Mitsubishi
G12 2.4 GPa m12 0.3
Rayon TR30 carbon fibres (E11 ¼ 234 GPa, strain to failure,
66 J.D. Fuller, M.R. Wisnom / Composites: Part A 69 (2015) 64–71

3.1. ½155 s and ½205 s laminates

The ½155 s laminates exhibited an almost completely linear

behaviour (Fig. 2). As can be seen in Table 2 yield was not reached.
The loading in this case was dominated by the fibre direction ply
stress, r11 , with very small contributions from the transverse, r22
and shear, s12 stresses, as shown in Fig. 3. Fibre rotations were
minimal, reducing the original fibre angle by only 1.5° over the
course of the loading.
Non-linearity is increased for the ½205 s layup (Fig. 2), though
only in the final stages of loading. The response is still governed by
the fibre direction, with a low level of shear stress developed, as
shown in Fig. 3. Table 2 shows that the strength remains high,
but the non-linearity in the response allows some pseudo-ductility
to develop. The fibre rotation in these laminates is more pro-
nounced, with an overall reduction in fibre angle of between 3°
Fig. 1. A graphical explanation of the method used to determine the yield stress and
pseudo-ductile strain. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure and 4°. This is predominantly controlled by the larger, non-linear
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) transverse strain, y , that develops, as shown in Fig. 2. The effect
of the non-linear y is clear in Fig. 4, as the fibre rotation increases
with x .
The minimal amount of non-linearity demonstrated by these
of in-plane shear stress, s12 and shear strain, c12 . Using classical
lamination analysis, both are calculated from knowledge of the layups can be attributed to the relatively low initial value of G12
(2.4 GPa) for the Skyflex prepreg, meaning that the shear yield
applied stress, rx , and longitudinal and transverse strains, x and
y respectively. The value of s12 is found using a formulation point of the material was not reached.
presented by Herakovich et al. [17], which is summarised below.
3.2. ½255 s laminates
1
s12 ¼ ½Bð1  2m2 Þ þ m2 rx ð2Þ
2mn The stress–strain behaviour of these laminates (Fig. 2) was
highly non-linear, whilst retaining an initial modulus, E0x , of
where m = cos h, n = sin h and B is expressed as follows:
39 GPa. Laminate failure strains in excess of 3.5% are exhibited,
2   3 with a small degree of stiffening in the response before complete
m2 ð2m2  1Þ þ 4m2 n2 GE22 12 E22
m þ1
E11 12 failure of the sample, which allows strengths of over 950 MPa to
B¼4   5 ð3Þ
4m2 n2 GE22
12 E22
þ 2 EE22 m12 þ 1 þ ð2m2  1Þðm2  n2 Þ be reached. This stiffening of the laminate is shown also by the
E11 11
increase in fibre rotation at high strains. Unlike the previous two
It has been assumed that the elastic properties E11 ; E22 and G12 layups, there is a promising level of pseudo-ductility with Table 2
remain constant over the course of the loading. In this work and showing a d of over 1%. Consultation of the in-plane shear stress–
differently to [17], m and n are updated as the fibres reorient, strain behaviour (Fig. 3) shows that both s12 and c12 are increased
leading to a change in the value of B. compared with the ½155 s and ½205 s laminates. There is, there-
Shear strain, c12 , takes account of fibre rotation via the strain fore, more influence from the shear relative to the transverse stress
transformation equations for the material directions: on the failure of the sample. The effect of the increased level of
fibre rotations is also clear, as the level of s12 decreases following
2 3 2 32 3
11 m2 n2 mn x a short plateau region beyond the matrix yield point. This decrease
6 7 6 76  7 indicates that the matrix has undergone significant plastic flow,
4 22 5 ¼ 4 n2 m2 mn 54 y 5 ð4Þ
allowing the reorientation of fibres that transfers stress away from
c12 2mn 2mn m  n 2 2 cxy the matrix on to the fibres.
It is noted from Fig. 3 that there are small differences in the
Isolating c12 and accounting for cxy ¼ 0 leads to:
post-yield shear response of each laminate. As the shear stress–
c12 ¼ 2mnðx  y Þ ð5Þ strain curves for each laminate should overlay due to being
expressed in the principal material directions and so independent
where as above, the values of m and n are updated to reflect the of fibre angle, it is thought that this is a consequence of the
change in fibre angle. assumption that the material properties (E22 ; G12 and m12 ) remain
constant when determining the shear stress from Eqs. (2) and (3).
3. Experimental results
3.3. ½305 s laminates
Large non-linearity in stress–strain behaviour was observed for
all laminates, except in the case of ½155 s , which were largely As Fig. 2 shows, these laminates have a highly non-linear
linear. Borne out by the low values for coefficient of variation in stress–strain response, exhibiting significant pseudo-ductility.
Table 2, the response of samples was consistent across each batch. Table 2 shows that the strain to failure exceeds 5%, with strengths
As such, Fig. 2 shows only a representative stress–strain curve for of 700 MPa reached after a section of stiffening due to fibre rota-
each angle tested. tions of 7°. Pseudo-ductile strains reach almost 2.9%. The ply-level
Also consistent across all samples was the lack of delaminations shear strain, c12 , reaches over 10%, showing the increased influence
before final failure of the laminates. Laminates with fibre angles of of the shear on the laminate behaviour. In this case, the shear
h = ±25°, ±30°, ±45° went through three distinct regions on the stress does not decrease immediately after matrix yielding, instead
stress–strain curves: an initial linear part, followed by a yielding showing a longer plateau region up to laminate failure. Not as pro-
and finally a stiffening behaviour as the fibres rotate towards the nounced as the response shown for the ½255 s layup, this plateau
direction of applied load. of shear stress still shows how stresses are transferred to the fibre
 J.D. Fuller, M.R. Wisnom / Composites: Part A 69 (2015) 64–71 67

Table 2
Experimental results for key parameters. Coefficient of variation is shown in brackets after each value. Batch sizes of 5 specimens were tested, except for the ½455 s , which had
10.

rx (MPa) x (%) ry (MPa) y (%) d (%)

½155 s 1423 (5.54%) 1.75 (4.15%) – – –

½205 s 1220 (2.64%) 2.35 (4.24%) 1063 (5.48%) 1.90 (5.23%) 0.28 (24.25%)
½255 s 952 (7.34%) 3.60 (6.29%) 439 (5.40%) 1.20 (5.03%) 1.22 (6.49%)
½305 s 727 (1.60%) 5.40 (1.54%) 228 (10.41%) 0.90 (9.32%) 2.88 (3.51%)
½455 s 390 (9.35%) 17.94 (7.91%) 64 (8.88%) 0.76 (7.88%) 13.90 (7.50%)

Fig. 2. Applied longitudinal stresses are shown against longitudinal and transverse
Fig. 4. The fibre rotations for each layup are shown against applied strain, x . The
strains for all tested layups. Note that, for clarity, the ½455 s strains have been
increase in reorientation for each layup is clear. (For interpretation of the references
truncated to half the value reached at failure. Also only one response from each
to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
batch of five (10 for ½455 s ) is shown. (For interpretation of the references to colour
article.)
in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

3.4. ½455 s laminates

Initially tested to provide shear property data for the Skyflex

material, ½455 s laminates show highly non-linear stress–strain
behaviour, Fig. 2. Shown in Table 2, strains to failure in the region
of 20% have been recorded. The stress–strain curve shows three
distinct regions: an initial linear response, followed by a large
reduction in modulus near 100 MPa and lastly a stiffening of the
laminate once strains in excess of 8% are reached. The modest initial
stiffness means that the ry is somewhat lower than the other
layups tested. There is, however, considerable pseudo-ductile strain
of 13.9% – resulting from the low yield stress. Fig. 4 shows how,
once the yield point has been passed, the fibre rotation increases
with x . This coincides with what is seen in the latter stages of
the stress–strain response, as fibre rotation brings about the large
increase in stiffness before laminate failure.

3.5. Pseudo-ductility and yield

Fig. 3. In-plane shear stress–strain behaviour for each laminate tested. (For
interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is Whilst the general increase in non-linearity can be seen from
referred to the web version of this article.) Fig. 2, the interaction of the pseudo-ductile strain, d , with the yield
point is not so obvious. Fig. 5 presents characteristic stress–strain
curves for ½205 s (Fig. 5A), ½255 s (Fig. 5B), and ½305 s (Fig. 5C)
laminates that have been annotated to show the locations of the
direction with the onset of matrix yield. The response of this layup
yield and the amount of pseudo-ductility achieved.
shows the same initial modulus as the other orientations, but the
Increase in original fibre angle from 20° to 30° shows a ninefold
shear stress reaches a higher value at the yield point. This
increase in d from 0.33% to 2.92%. Yield stress is shown to decrease
increased absolute value of s12 is related to the amount of fibre
by approximately four times from 965 MPa to 230 MPa over the
rotation that takes place. From Fig. 4, it is seen that the ½305 s lam-
same change in angle. This highlights that these angle-ply
inates exhibit a similar amount of reorientation as the ½255 s . This
laminates allow the response to be tailored to suit the require-
is, relative to applied strain, a lower amount than expected. It is the
ments. There is, obviously a compromise to be made, as a high d
fibre rotation that influences the material direction shear stress, so
is not possible whilst retaining a high yield stress. The response
relatively low reorientation leads to higher level of s12 .
of the ½255 s in this case looks most promising, as it represents
68 J.D. Fuller, M.R. Wisnom / Composites: Part A 69 (2015) 64–71

Figs. 6 and 7 present images taken of the typical failure points

for ½h5 s (h = 15, 20, 25, 30), where each shall be dealt with in turn.

 ½155 s (Fig. 6A) – Failure has taken place perpendicular to the

direction of load, indicating that the failure in this layup was
clearly dominated by fibre failure. There is an absence of splits
running parallel to the fibres, highlighting the local nature of
the failure.
 ½205 s (Fig. 6B) – Failure in these layups is via both fibre failure
and ply splitting. The introduction of splits parallel to the fibre
direction correlates with the non-linear nature of the stress–
strain curve, indicating an increased level of s12 in the plies.
Most notably, however, fibre failure occurs at the same point
as the splits and, as the inset image (Fig. 6E) of the meeting of
the fracture surface and free edge, shows, there is a complete
absence of delaminations between the split and fractured plies.
 ½255 s (Fig. 6C) – A more interactive failure took place in these
laminates. Fibre failure of every ply seems to be predominant,
taking place away from the end tab region. Some splitting is
also seen to occur that coincides with the fibre fractures. The
image (Fig. 6D) showing the highlighted area in more detail at
the free edge of the sample, again shows the lack of major del-
aminations at the position of failure along the free edge.
 ½305 s (Fig. 7) – Similarly to the ½255 s layup, these samples
exhibited both fibre fracture and split dominated failures. In
these cases, however, the sample fragments were much larger.
The pictured fibre fracture (Fig. 7A) and split (Fig. 7B) being
the only points of failure in the gauge length for those particular
specimens, with the rest of each intact and bonded to the end
tabs. As can be seen on the left of Fig. 8, there was a small
amount of metallic-like necking of the sample near the end
tab. Both failures shown took place with no delaminations prior
to the eventual failure of the samples.
 ½455 s – Pictured in a separate image (Fig. 9), the failure of the
½455 s laminates was a combination of fibre fracture and shear-
driven splitting. Predominantly, however, the laminates did not
fail within the gauge length, with 80% exhibiting extensive
necking (pictured right in Fig. 8) and finally fracturing and pull-
ing out from within the end tab region. Some samples reached
axial strains in the region of 20% and did not actually exhibit
complete failure, but remained permanently deformed. The
fibre rotations in these laminates are clearly visible and one
example, is highlighted in Fig. 9, with reorientations of 17°. This,
allowing for error from the manual measuring, correlates well
with the fibre rotations in the region of 15° calculated from
the captured strains.

Common to all samples tested, are the absence of the free-edge

Fig. 5. Plots show the development of pseudo-ductility and change in yield point delaminations that govern the failure of angle-ply laminates with
with increase in original fibre angle. (A) ½205 s ; (B) ½255 s ; and (C) ½305 s . (For standard thickness plies. Reduction of the ply thickness to a quar-
interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred ter of the standard 0.125 mm has resulted in a suppression of this
to the web version of this article.) damage and has allowed other mechanisms to take place. Fibre
the middle ground. Yield takes place at rY ¼ 450 MPa and rotations are seen to increase with the degree of non-linearity in
Y ¼ 1:24%, with a d of 1.23%, while retaining a strength in excess the stress–strain response and all samples show an increase in
of 900 MPa. Values of h in this region, for the material in question, the rate of these rotations with applied strain, x . This increase
clearly show the potential for the approach to achieve pseudo- comes about once the shear yield point is surpassed and the plastic
ductility in a high-performance laminate. flow of the matrix allows continued deformation. The pseudo-
ductile strains exhibited by the ±25, ±30 and ±45 laminates occur
due to this combination of plasticity and fibre reorientation, which
4. Post-failure analysis would not have possible using standard thickness plies.

All samples were tested to failure, following which, a visual 4.1. X-ray CT scanning
inspection of each was carried out, both by eye and optical
microscopy. The global failures of each layup were seen to be To further aid understanding of the damage resistance of these
progressively different from one another, but linked in the level thin ply laminates, X-ray computed tomography (XCT) has been
of damage accumulated. conducted, using a Nikon Xtek XT225 with CT Pro reconstruction,
 J.D. Fuller, M.R. Wisnom / Composites: Part A 69 (2015) 64–71 69

Fig. 6. Micrographs show the typical failure characteristics of (A) 15 ; (B) 20 ; (C) 25 ; (D) highlighted area in C; and (E) highlighted area in B. (For interpretation of the
references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 7. Micrographs show the observed failure characteristics of ½305 s laminates. (A) Fibre fracture dominated failure and (B) splits and fibre fracture of every ply. (For
interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

on one sample from each of the ½305 s and ½455 s layups. Both the laminates were scanned. The visualised section of the ½305 s
were tested fully, as part of the main batches, and no special laminate was located between the end tab and the position of lam-
interruptions were made. The ½305 s sample had failed as shown inate failure. Complete failure did not take place in the scanned
in Fig. 7A, reaching a strain, x of 5.45%. The ½455 s reached an ½455 s sample so the section chosen was at the middle of the
x of 19.8% but did not exhibit failure, so was intact. These layups gauge length.
were selected as they exhibit the highest strains to failure and Using the VG Studio 2.1 Max post-processing software, multiple
considerable fibre rotation and so represent, in terms of possible slices through the thickness of each laminate have been taken to
damage accumulation, the worst case. While microscopy carried visualise the internal condition of the samples. It was found that
out of the sample edges can give insight into their general condi- there is a complete absence of free-edge delaminations at any
tion at failure, XCT yields far better information as to the state of point in either sample. Representative images, taken from halfway
the laminate throughout the cross-section. Thus it allows efficient between the mid-plane and surface of each sample are presented
determination of the locations and extent of any damage that may in Fig. 10, ½305 s is on the left and ½455 s the right hand side of
have occurred. Each scanned sample was first immersed in a dye the figure. In both images the fibre directions are clearly visible.
penetrant of zinc iodide solution to highlight any damage. To In an effort to get images of each ply, a scan resolution of
maximise the amount of detail visible, 40 mm sections of each of 0.018 mm was used – less than the 0.03 mm ply thickness, and
70 J.D. Fuller, M.R. Wisnom / Composites: Part A 69 (2015) 64–71

Fig. 8. Image shows metallic-like necking behaviour of ½305 s (upper) and ½455 s
(lower) laminates. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 10. X-ray CT scans of ½305 s (left) and ½455 s (right) laminates indicate that
delaminations do not develop during loading of these angle-ply laminates. Note
that the arrows indicate artefacts generated by the tape on the laminate surface
used to identify the position of the area to be scanned.

stress–strain response. The damage suppression, in particular,

Fig. 9. ½455 s laminates that fractured showed a mixture of fibre and shear driven allows a more confident estimate of failure to be made and gives
failure. The permanent deformation of the sample is clear from the largely a level of control to the overall stress–strain behaviour. For exam-
decreased fibre angle. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure ple, as well as predetermining the initial modulus and amount of
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) linear strain shown before yield by choice of the original fibre
angle, the thin ply effect ensures that the post-yield condition is
well-defined and damage free. In this way, the structural integrity
so sufficient to show delaminations if present. The specimens,
of the laminate is preserved.
however, were not perfectly flat, so it is possible to see both fibre
A key aspect of exploiting the pseudo-ductile response of these
directions in one slice.
laminates will be careful choice of the fibre angle. The results pre-
Free-edge delaminations are visualised by a distinctive triangu-
sented in Fig. 5 show that there is a large change in yield stress,
lar shape in angle-ply laminates, made up of matrix cracking
strength and pseudo-ductility as the value of h is increased from
parallel to the fibre direction and the delamination front perpen-
±25° to ±30°. At 30 , the yield stress and strength are consider-
dicular to the fibres. It can be seen that there are none of these
ably reduced from the values shown by the ½255 s , though the
characteristic triangular areas of dye penetrant in either sample.
pseudo-ductile strain is tripled. These findings suggest that the
The ±30 sample shows no signs of matrix cracking, as the image
region between these angles may give even better results in terms
is a monochrome grey showing no ingress of dye penetrant. The
of optimising these parameters.
±45 image shows similar traits, though in this case there is some
This study has focused on one material. If the results are
evidence of matrix cracking, shown by the faint white lines that
compared to other studies of angle-ply laminates, they are seen
extend across the sample parallel to the fibres. Considering both
to be very promising in terms of pseudo-ductility and strain to fail-
the higher fibre orientation that leads to some small transverse
ure. Ogihara et al. [19] performed tensile tests on ½hs angle-ply
tensile stresses developing at the very start of the loading and
laminates with angles of ±15°, ±30° and ±45°, using a T700S-
the large strains reached by the ±45 laminates, some matrix crack-
2500 carbon–epoxy prepreg material, with a E11 of approximately
ing is not unexpected. The key is that these cracks have not led to
100 GPa, which is similar to the value found for the Skyflex
the failure of the sample by acting as initiators for delaminations.
material (Table 2), and ply thickness of 0.13 mm. The ±15°, simi-
larly to the results presented here, displays a predominantly linear
5. Angle-plies and pseudo-ductility stress–strain response. The recorded strength and strain to failure,
however, were 780 MPa and 0.8% respectively compared with
The thin ply angle-ply laminates studied in this work have 1423 MPa and 1.75% demonstrated by the Skyflex. More non-line-
shown that it is possible to achieve large pseudo-ductile strains arity developed in the 30 and 45 laminates with strengths of
with this type of ½hn s layup. While previous studies of these lam- 400 MPa and 155 MPa, and strains to failure of 1.59% and 4.50%
inates have centred on establishing the benefits compared with respectively. Using the stress–strain plots in [19] and applying
standard thickness material [13], the current work has made use the methods presented in Fig. 1, estimations of the yield point
of the effect to bring about a controllable, predictable non-linear and pseudo-ductile strains can be made for these laminates. In
 J.D. Fuller, M.R. Wisnom / Composites: Part A 69 (2015) 64–71 71

each case, the experimental values presented in this study are Acknowledgements
given in parentheses. The 30 exhibited ry of 250 MPa
(228 MPa), y of 0.70% (0.90%) and d of 0.50% (2.88%). The 45 This work is part of the EPSRC Programme Grant EP/I02946X/1
showed a ry of 85 MPa (64 MPa), y of 0.65% (0.76%) and d of on High Performance Ductile Composite Technology in collabora-
3.5% (13.90%). For both studies the point of yield is seen to be sim- tion with Imperial College, London and is financially supported
ilar, but the d demonstrated in this work, using thin ply material, by Grant No. EP/G036772/1 (as part of the ACCIS Centre for
is considerably higher. The standard thickness plies used in [19] Doctoral Training).
clearly suffer from the sort of premature failure discussed above.
As such, the thin ply composites reach values of strengths that References
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