Acoustic emission analysis and signal classification for damage modes in UD carbon/epoxy composites

The failure of fiber-reinforced polymer composites is considered a complex process resulting from several concurrent damage mechanisms and their interactions. To better understand the damage modes of composites, which is necessary to ensure their structural health monitoring, increase their reliability, and validate different methods used for influencing their damage and failure process, it is crucial to detect, identify, and analyze different damage modes present in composite materials. The acoustic emission technique provides the opportunity to acquire damage-related data, which can be analyzed and associated with different modes of damage. In the current study, we conducted specific tests using the acoustic emission (AE) technique on the composite and its constituents, which can induce individual damage modes, thereby enabling the determination of their characteristic AE signal properties and their identification in complex composite structures.