Influence of aging on fatigue strength of carbon fiber reinforced plastics

Various composite materials are implemented in aircraft, rocket and automobile construction, shipbuilding, railway transport, tidal power and others due to their high strength to weight ratio, superior fatigue strength, and design flexibility. These materials are used in critical areas of engineering practice, so this makes their long-term aging and fatigue characteristics of paramount importance. At the same time, the characteristics of these materials essentially changed after long-term operation. Thus, investigations of aging of these materials are much needed. Experimental studies on alternation of cyclic loading, climatic and thermal aging were conducted to study the characteristics of unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced plastic of the T107/ON190/R132436 mark. Experimental results shown a significant hardening during cyclic experiments, which considerably depends on the aging program.