Ratcheting Behaviors of the Carbon Fiber Reinforced PEEK Composites: Experimental Study and Numerical Simulation

In this study, uniaxial tensile tests were performed on the polyether ether ketone (PEEK) resins and the carbon fiber/polyether ether ketone (CF/PEEK) composites. The ratcheting behaviors of the CF/PEEK composites under stress-controlled cyclic loading were studied by using a combined experimental and finite element approach, with a particular emphasis on the effects of mean stress and stress amplitude. Based on the constitutive relation parameters obtained from the uniaxial tensile tests, the representative volume element model of the CF/PEEK composite was established by using ABAQUS and the random sequence of adsorption (RSA) algorithm. The experimental and numerical simulation results were compared under the same loading conditions. It was showed that a noticeable ratcheting occurred in the composites under the asymmetric stress-controlled cyclic loading and was positively related to the stress amplitude and mean stress. A good agreement between the experimental and simulation results was achieved in this study. Therefore, the finite element simulation is a useful method to predict the ratcheting strains of the CF/PEEK composites under different conditions.