Long-term creep behavior of a short carbon fiber-reinforced PEEK at high temperature: Experimental and modeling approach

In this work, the time-dependent mechanical behavior of a short carbon fiber-reinforced PEEK is investigated at temperatures near and above the glass transition temperature and for stresses below the damage threshold. An experimental procedure including creep/recovery tests and dynamic mechanical tests was carried out by varying stress levels, temperatures and fiber orientation. The mechanical behavior is shown to be linear viscoelastic below the damage threshold. Effect of the fiber orientation on elastic and viscoelastic behavior is similar. A procedure involving the time-temperature superposition principle (TTSP) is set to assess the long-term linear viscoelastic behavior and is shown to provide reliable results. A Maxwell Generalized model is used for unidirectional identification of the model's parameters. It is then implemented via a UMAT in Abaqus with failure criteria for viscoelastic materials from the literature for 3D calculation of industrial parts.