Bearing damage evolution of a pinned joint in CFRP laminates under repeated tensile loading

Abstract A mechanical pinned joint in the CFRP laminates such as [0/±45/90] 3S , [90/±45/0] 3S , [0/±45/90] 2S and [90/±45/0] 2s is loaded statically and cyclically to finally obtain the critical condition for fatigue. It is derived that in the static loading, the critical damage that yields shear matrix crack is kink and the critical condition to the final failure is the appearance of kink in every inner 0° layer and that in the fatigue loading within the moderate load, the critical damage that yields shear matrix crack is almost always kink-like damage along the collapse front and at high load it is rather kink. Next, the non-elastic elongation of a joint at the maximum load subtracted by the one at 10th cycle is focused on and its capability is figured out for various stacking sequences. The critical value U NE , F ∗ for the elongation rate change to the final fatigue failure is around 50–65 μm in the present material. The critical condition to the final fatigue failure and corresponding to U NE , F ∗ is roughly the appearance of mostly kink-like damage in every inner 0° layer.