Fatigue notch sensibility of thermoplastic glass fibres composites

This paper is concerned with a notch sensibility study of a thermoplastic composite produced from a bi-directional woven E-glass fibres and polypropylene. Experimental tests were performed in three points bending using notched and unotched specimens of polypropylene glass fibres reinforced laminates to evaluate flexural properties and fatigue behaviour. Fatigue results were plotted as the stress range against the number of cycles to failure. The fatigue damage was measured in terms of the stiffness loss. The testes carried out using notched specimens present lower values of both static and fatigue strengths than the unnotched specimens tests.