Influence of fibre volume fraction and temperature on fatigue life of glass fibre reinforced plastics

The influence of fibre volume fraction and temperature on fatigue life of continuous glass fibre reinforced plastics is investigated in detail. The physical causes of the two effects on the slope of the S-N-curve in fibre direction at R = 0.1 are researched and can be explained with help of micrographs. A new phenomenological approach is presented to model both effects in fibre dominated laminates with different stacking sequences using only the static ultimate strength as an input. Static and fatigue tests of different layups and fibre volume fractions are performed at different temperatures to validate the fatigue life predictions. Additionally it is derived that there is an optimal fibre volume fraction regarding a minimum damage sum. This fibre volume fraction is dependent on a given loading spectra and can be calculated using the phenomenological model.