Assessment of the interlaminar behaviour of a carbon fabric reinforced thermoplastic lap shear specimen under quasi-static and tension-tension fatigue loading

Although fusion bonded joints have already been extensively studied, they are only rarely compared to benchmark specimens with the same interlaminar behaviour as the composite material being joined, especially for lap shear geometry. Furthermore, an extensive study of these benchmarks under quasi-static and fatigue loading conditions is almost never considered. In this manuscript, a method of producing such benchmark lap shear specimens is presented for a hot pressed carbon fabric reinforced thermoplastic. The mechanical behaviour of these specimens is then assessed using quasi-static, hysteresis and tension-tension fatigue experiments. It could be concluded that the considered approach worked well for this material and reproducible results and values were found. With respect to the material, no crack growth was visible during the quasi-static experiments, except near the very end of life, whereas significant crack growth was present during fatigue experiments. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.