Face sheet debonding in CFRP/PMI sandwich structures under quasi-static and fatigue loading considering residual thermal stress

The face sheet debonding behaviour under quasi-static and fatigue loading in sandwich structures consisting of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer face sheets and a Polymethacrylimid foam core is investigated. The sandwich structure is tested under global mode I and global mode II loading using the Single Cantilever Beam test and the Cracked Sandwich Beam test. Because of the different thermal expansion behaviour of the face sheets and the foam core thermal stresses occur already after the manufacturing process. The impact of these temperature loads on the crack propagation behaviour is investigated via evaluating the experiments numerically with Finite Element Analysis and Virtual Crack Closure Technique. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.