New method for crack length determination in low-temperature DCB tests based on electrical capacitance

The double cantilever beam (DCB) test is a widely used method to evaluate interlaminar fractures in composite materials. However, conducting DCB tests at low temperatures reveals challenges, particularly in detecting and characterising delaminations due to freezing of the specimen. This study proposes a novel approach to address this issue by employing capacitance measurements to identify and quantify delamination growth during DCB tests under low-temperature conditions. Different methods of evaluation are considered and compared in this paper. The results show that reliable results can be determined with the new measurement method and that the process is significantly less susceptible to human error than the usual evaluation methods. This work improves the accuracy and reliability of DCB tests under extreme environmental conditions and has the potential to support the development and application of composite materials in challenging environments like liquid hydrogen storage applications. • Use of modified compliance calibration without visual markers. • Low-Temperature DCB-Test. • Delamination detection due to capacitance measurement. • New possibilities of crack initiation detection.