Investigation of the Influence of Viscoelastic Behaviour on the Lifetime of Short Fibre Reinforced Polymers

Short fibre reinforced polymers are getting more important for structural applications. Becasue of lightweight actions, components are designed for a specific application and lifetime. The bearable numbers of cycles can be estimated using material data and models for the consideration of influence factors. Further static loadings affect material behaviour, which influences the component lifetime. Commonly used models are not able to capture these effects. Therefore, material tests, with different load sequences, on 40% short glass fibre reinforced polypropylene have been performed. These sequences are combinations of cyclic and static loads at different, defined levels. Our research shows a lifetime elongation or reduction of a polymer, depending on the amount of static load time and quantity. For a certain stress level, the time to failure can be elongated or shortened more than a decade by another stress level, as compared to pure cyclic load. Additionally, the stiffness development of the composite is investigated in order to capture the damage course. Accordingly, these effects needed to be considered in lifetime prediction.