An analysis of residual thermal stresses in a unidirectional graphite/PMR-15 composite based on X-ray diffraction measurements

The purpose of this research is to determine residual thermal stresses in a unidirectional graphite-fiberT/PMR-15 polyimide composite by using crystalline inclusions. X-ray diffraction (,XRD) measurements have been made to determine residual stresses in embedded aluminum and silver inclusions placed between the first and second plies of six-ply unidirectional graphite/PMR-15 composite specimens. In the modeling part of this research, residual thermal stresses in unidirectional graphite/polyimide composite plates and in the embedded aluminum and silver inclusions with interlaminar and intralaminar particle distributions have been modeled by using elastic and visco-elastic laminate theories and the Eshelby method. The numerically determined residual stresses in the particles have been subsequently compared to the residual stresses determined from the XRD analysis. It has been shown in this research that the residual stresses in the unidirectional graphite/polyimide composite can be obtained with reasonable accuracy by using the X-ray diffraction technique in conjunction with the application of the visco-elastic Eshelby method of multiple inclusions. The modeling has also shown that the distribution of the aluminum and silver particles and their geometries have a strong effect on the XRD data and the thermal stress analysis based on the concept of embedded crystalline inclusions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.