RESIDUAL-STRESSES AND DELAMINATION PROBLEMS INDUCED BY COCURING OF DAMPED COMPOSITE LAMINATES

A study to understand the delamination of laminated composite beams with a viscoelastic damping layer due to residual stresses resulting from cocuring is presented in this paper. The effects of residual stress concentration near the free edges of the laminate on the delamination is discussed. Numerical study is conducted to show the effects of laminate and viscoelastic material properties and various structural parameters such as the width of the composite beam, the thickness of the 0 degrees ply angle layers, and the thickness of the compliance layers, on the failure of the composite beam.