Characterization of progressive damage behaviour and failure mechanism of carbon fiber reinforced composite laminates

The progressive damage behavior and failure mechanism of molded carbon fiber reinforced composite laminates under tensile and three-point bending loads were studied. The mechanical properties and failure mechanism of composite laminates were studied by theoretical analysis, numerical simulation and experimental characterization. The results show that the tensile failure mode of molded carbon fiber reinforced composite laminates presents the phenomenon of resin matrix cross-section fracture, fiber fracture and fiber pull-out. Under three-point bending load, the main failure modes of molded carbon fiber reinforced composite laminates are matrix crack, interlayer separation and fiber fracture. Based on the progressive energy dissipation theory and the incremental method, the FEA-VUMAT model is established, which can accurately predict the tensile, three-point bending response and failure mechanism. The predicted load-displacement curves and load disturbance curves of the model are in good agreement with the experimental results. The prediction accuracy of the maximum tensile load, flexural modulus and flexural strength is 97%, 96% and 93%, respectively, which verifies the validity of the model.