Experimental Study on Compression Failure of Composite Laminates with Prefabricated Surface Cracks

A new compression test fixture was designed in the present work to study the damage tolerance of composite laminates with surface cracks or notches. The compression failure behaviors of CCF300/5228A quasi-isotropic composite laminates with prefabricated surface cracks were studied experimentally. Through the size design of the test fixture and specimens and an application of a simple test method, the complex crack growth process was captured. The experimental results showed that the compression failure modes were mainly affected by crack angles and depths, and there were two typical failure modes, which were local intra- and inter-laminar damage propagating from the crack tips and delamination growth induced from the crack leading edge. This study verified the validity of the test fixture and test method, and revealed the compression failure mechanisms of composite laminates with surface cracks.