Compression creep rupture behavior of a glass/vinyl ester composite subject to isothermal and one-sided heat flux conditions

Given the expanding applications of polymer matrix composites to civil infrastructure, the marine industry, and the military, we examine the compression creep rupture behavior of a glass/vinyl ester composite subject to combined load and one sided heating simulating fire exposure. We focus on reversible non-linear viscoelastic effects which dominate delayed failure at lower temperatures in the vicinity of the glass transition temperature. A compression strength model which predicts local compression failure due to micro-buckling is extended to include viscoclasticity. Times to failure under combined mechanical load and one sided heating are estimated to within an order of magnitude. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.