Off-Axis Compressive Behaviour of Fibre Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the mechanisms of damage onset and evolution in unidirectional PEEK/AS4 carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) composites subjected to off-axis compressive loadings. A test fixture was designed to prevent buckling, splitting, and end collapsing of the specimens during the test. A series of compression tests were conducted with specimens of various off-axis angles. The displacement and strain fields of all specimens during the tests were evaluated by the digital image correlation (DIC) method. In combination with the DIC results, the influence of the off-axis angles on the failure mechanisms and nonlinear stress–strain responses were analysed. The corresponding failure mechanisms were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The fracture angles of the tested specimens were evaluated and analysed according to Puck’s theory. The off-axis compression failure envelope based on LaRC05 and Hashin criteria was presented and compared to the experimental results. It was shown that the LaRC05 criterion can provide accurate predictions when the off-axis angle is larger than 15°. The complex failure mechanisms were analysed to better understand the effect of ductility of the thermoplastic matrix to the composites. The series of tests provide an experimental failure envelope in combined stress states and can be used for the evaluation of failure theories and the criteria of thermoplastic composites.