Fatigue life prediction method of carbon fiber-reinforced composites

Abstract The use of composite laminates is characterized by problems such as poor inter-layer bonding and susceptibility of material properties to fatigue cracking, which seriously threaten structural safety. Research on fatigue damage characteristics and fatigue life prediction of fiber-reinforced composites can help to solve such problems. Carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy resin matrix composite laminates are taken as the object of this study. By analyzing the fatigue failure process and the fatigue failure micromorphology of the specimen, the primary damage forms and fatigue damage characteristics of its fatigue failure were obtained. The fatigue failure process of fiber-reinforced composites was simulated using finite element analysis software ABAQUS and its UMAT subroutine function. The tensile–tensile fatigue damage characteristics and failure mechanism of fiber-reinforced composites were studied, and the fatigue life of the composites was predicted. The feasibility of this life prediction method was verified by comparing it with experimentally obtained damage processes and fatigue lives. This intuitive and reliable life prediction method has good research potential for predicting the fatigue limit of fiber-reinforced composites.