New method on experimental damage study of AS4/PEEK composite laminates

AS4/PEEK [0/+/-45/90](7s) composite laminates were subjected to a bending moment. We have obtained the displacement fields by moire interferometry with the aid of Long Distance Microscope. Based on wavelet analysis, the digital moire images were processed and analyzed. The special algorithms of unconstrained nonlinear minimization and the scale parameter were used to eliminate the influence of the noise in the digital image processing. Tension tests were carried out on AS4/PEEK [0/+/-45/90](2s) composites. When AS4/PEEK composite laminates were deformed, the images of natural surface of the AS4/PEEK specimen were recorded to study the damage initiation and growth. The experimental results show that the considerable interlaminal stresses between different plies, and these places were more prone to delaminate. The paper presents the microscopic damages and matrix crack growth observed by an optical microscope and the CCD camera.