In situ damage characterization of CFRP under compression using high-speed optical, infrared and synchrotron X-ray phase-contrast imaging

The strain rate dependency and failure modes of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) laminate were investigated under out-of-plane compressive loading. Simultaneous high-speed optical and infrared imaging were used to measure full-field deformation and temperature in the dynamically loaded specimens. The damage initiation and propagation inside the CFRP laminates at high strain rates were characterized using in-situ ultra-fast synchrotron X-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI). The visually observed damage onset occurs at the strain value of 4.2±0.6% as transverse shear fracture at the free edge of specimens. The local temperature increases significantly to 185 °C due to damage initiation at high strain rates, while at low strain rate the temperature rise occurs along the final shear band. The XPCI and post-failure analysis provide an integrated perspective on the formation of a diagonal shear crack and disintegration of the specimen into two pieces with the fracture of plies in the in-plane transverse direction. Electron microscopic (SEM) study was integrated with XPCI results to append the time scale for the post-mortem failure pattern as well as the length scale for microcracks and filament-level failure.