Principal Features of Fatigue and Residual Strength of Composite Materials Subjected to Constant Amplitude (CA) Loading

This paper summarizes the principal features of composites’ responses when subjected to constant amplitude (CA) cyclic loadings. The stochastic nature of the responses; the absence of a detectable fatigue limit; the sudden drop of strength; the general validity of the strength-life equal-rank assumption (SLERA); and, ultimately, the residual strength-life equal-rank assumption (RSLERA) are discussed on the basis of the selected experimental data available in literature. The objective is defining a robust test in order to ascertain the reliability of the phenomenological models. A two-parameter phenomenological model accounting for the maximum cyclic stress, σ(max), and the stress ratio, R = σ(min)/σ(max), was used for guidance through the phenomenology of fatigue. It is concluded that the robustness of the models dealing with fatigue can be checked only when the characteristics of the composites’ responses are described simultaneously with fixed parameters.