Fatigue crack growth and delamination propagation in glass-fiber reinforced aluminium alloy laminates

Constant amplitude tension-tension fatigue experiments were done on glass-fiber reinforced aluminium laminates. The fatigue crack growth and delamination growth were investigated on centre crack specimens. Crack growth rate almost kept constant with crack growing, and delamination length kept linear relation with crack length. Based on finite element method analysis method, the effective stress intensity factors were established at crack tip, and Paris-law was used to predict the crack growth rate. It is shown that the numerical results agree with experimental results; this agreement proves that this method can be used to predict fatigue crack growth rates in this hybrid laminate.