Acoustic emission analysis of tensile damage in carbon fiber composite laminates with drilled hole from 20 K to 300 K

Abstract Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites are widely used in cryogenic engineering due to their lightweight, high strength and corrosion resistance. Practical applications are often involved in processing CFRP structural components with holes. However, the presence of these holes has an important effect on the overall mechanical properties of the CFRP structural components. In the present work, we introduce the acoustic emission (AE) technique to characterize the mechanical response of the CFRP upon tensile stress within the temperature range of 20 K to 300 K. Through the application of the AE technology, we monitored the damage process in real time under quasistatic axial tensile stress of the CFRP laminates containing hole in a cryogenic environment and analyzed the damage mechanism of the perforated CFRP laminates at different temperatures.