Measurement of Mode-I Interlaminar Fracture Toughness of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polyimide Resin Composites at High Temperature

Carbon fiber reinforced polyimide resin composite is one of the promising candidate materials for high-speed civil transport (HSCT) that is expected to be developed in near future. In this research temperature dependence of mode-I interlaminar fracture toughness of carbon/polyimide composite has been investigated experimentally at temperatures ranging from 20°C to 200°C. Experiment was performed by way of double-cantilever-beam (DCB) tests. Crack length was measured continuously by the electric resistance method. At high temperature a large scale fiber bridging was observed. Those bridging fibers affect the measurement of crack-growth resistance curves significantly.