Microscopic damage behavior in CFRP cross-ply laminates at cryogenic temperature

For the practical use of cryogenic propellant tanks made of CFRP laminates, experimental elucidation of the laminates’ microstructural damage propagation behavior at cryogenic temperatures is important. This paper presents a newly developed tensile test rig that enables in-situ observation of microscopic damage using an optical microscope at cryogenic temperatures using a Gifford–McMahon refrigerator. In-situ observations of microscopic damage under uniaxial tensile loading were done at room temperature (290 K, 17 °C) and at 30 K (−243 °C) on cross-ply thin-ply CFRP specimens of three kinds with different 90° layer thicknesses. The results demonstrated that the crack propagation behavior is independent of temperature, that the matrix crack density is higher, and that the onset of matrix crack initiation strain is lower at 30 K than at 290 K. Furthermore, the thermal strain within 90° layer at 30 K and at 290 K was estimated using finite element analyses (FEA). The FEA results suggest that the decrease in onset strain of matrix crack initiation at 30 K is mainly attributed to the increase in the thermal strains within the 90° layer. [Display omitted]