Experimental study on tensile behavior of carbon fiber and carbon fiber reinforced aluminum at different strain rate

In this study, dynamic and quasi-static tensile behaviors of carbon fiber and unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced aluminum composite have been investigated. The complete stress-strain curves of fiber bundles and the composite at different strain rates were obtained. The experimental results show that carbon fiber is a strain rate insensitive material, but the tensile strength and critical strain of the C-f/Al composite increased with increasing of strain rate because of the strain rate strengthening effect of aluminum matrix. Based on experimental results, a fiber bundles model has been combined with Weibull strength distribution function to establish a one-dimensional damage constitutive equation for the C-f/Al composite.