Influence of temperature on the behavior of carbon fiber fabrics reinforced PPS laminates

This work aims at investigating the influence of temperature on the strength and the failure mechanisms of carbon fiber fabrics reinforced PPS laminates. Four different tests were carried out at two temperatures (room temperature and 120 degrees C): tensile, open-hole tensile, single-bolt double lap joint and single-bolt single lap joint. Around its glass transition temperature, temperature contributes to enhance the viscoplastic behavior of the PPS resin but also to degrade the fibers/matrix interface. However, it has no relevant influence on both stiffness (-5%) and strength of notched (-3%) and unnotched (-7%) carbon fiber-reinforced PPS composites. For bolted joint tests, temperature shifts the failure mode from a brittle failure to a progressive failure resulting in a lower strength of the joints: -14% for double lap joints and -21% for single lap joints. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved