Journal Published Online: 01 April 1984
Volume 6, Issue 1

Life Estimation of Aramid/Epoxy Composites Under Sustained Tension

CODEN: JCTRER

Abstract

For long-term applications, the life of fiber composites is a key concern for engineers. Over the last decade, we have been studying this subject by measuring the stress-rupture behavior of several composites under sustained tensile loads [1–19]. Stress rupture (also called lifetime, static fatigue, creep rupture, or time-dependent strength) is the failure time of a composite material or structure under a sustained load. Recently, we summarized our 10-y study in stress rupture on a simple S-Glass/epoxy composite [20]. In the case of aramid/epoxy composites, we gathered lifetime data from 1971 until early 1980, when a major earthquake interrupted part of our experiment. Our effort on this class of composite has been quite extensive with tests that use large numbers of composite strands and pressure vessels. For the strand testing, several temperatures also were involved. Different analytical methods were used for the treatment of data. Because of the large scope of this work, long experimental time span, and the number of people involved, some data inconsistency and different interpretations of results have been unavoidable. In this article, we review all of our stress-rupture data on aramid/epoxy composites from 1971 to early 1980, analyze them with an up-to-date statistical method, provide plots for life estimation and reliability assessment, and offer comments on some issues of particular interest.

Author Information

Glaser, RE
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA
Moore, RL
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA
Chiao, TT
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA
Pages: 10
Price: $25.00
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Stock #: CTR10881J
ISSN: 0884-6804
DOI: 10.1520/CTR10881J