Experimental and numerical investigations on the time-dependent behavior of woven-ply PPS thermoplastic laminates at temperatures higher than glass transition temperature

This study was aimed at investigating the time-dependent behavior of carbon woven-ply PPS laminates at temperatures higher than its Tg (95°C) when matrix viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity are prominent. Creep-recovery tensile tests were carried out on [(+45,−45)]7 laminates at 120°C in order to examine the contribution of these time-dependent effects to their mechanical response. A numerical modelling has been developed to account for these behaviors. For this purpose, a linear spectral viscoelastic model and a generalized Norton-type viscoplastic model have been implemented in the FE code Cast3m. Finally, validation tests were performed to determine the model’s ability to predict the laminates response to various loadings. The numerical simulations are in good agreement with the experimental responses even for structural testing as a creep test on a notched specimen.