Fatigue Life Prediction for Polymeric
Composite Materials Subjected to Bending Loads at Elevated Temperatures
C. A. Mahieux, J. Jackson, S.W. Case and S. Pipik
Quasi-static and cyclic bending experiments have been performed on unidirectional
carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic matrix composites. End-loaded dynamic data are
reported for the first time in the present paper. An attempt has been made to
systematically separate the effects of temperature and cyclic loading. A model was
establish to enable the life prediction of the composite under combined fatigue and
thermal loads. The incremental MRLifeTM philosophy was used to predict elevated
temperature bending fatigue from elevated temperature quasi-static bending (stress
rupture) and room temperature bending fatigue data. Encouraging results have been obtain
for temperatures below the glass transition temperature of the material.