Manufacturing curing cycles influence on local fracture toughness properties at micro and macro scale - IOPscience
Ultimate strengths and fatigue properties (S-N curves) of thick laminates vary through the thickness showing unexpected values in comparison with thin laminate. This is related to curing cycles, residual strains and manufacturing thermal history. These observations were reported using the sub-laminate technique where thick laminates through-thickness mechanical properties can be described according to a prescribed curing cycle. A similar behaviour might be also expected at a micro level for the fibre/matrix interface properties. In the present work, the curing cycles influence is studied for fracture toughness properties at a macro and micro level. For this purpose, standard test coupons are obtained with the sub-laminate technique and single fibre fragmentation tests are carried out at different curing cycles.
