Int. J. Fatigue Vol. 17, No. 5, pp.

343-351, 1995

~ U T T E R W 0 ~-I • H
I T'J E M A i"J rq
Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Limited
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
(H42-1123/95/$10.00

A cumulative damage model to predict the

fatigue life of composite laminates including
the effect of a fibre-matrix interphase
S. Subramanian, K.L. Reifsnider and W.W. Stinchcomb
Materials Response Group, Engineering Science and Mechanics Department,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
(Received 4 August 1994; revised 24 November 1994)

Recent experimental efforts have established the significance of the fibre-matrix interface/interphase
in the long-term behaviour of polymeric composites. Results indicate that small alterations at the
interface level could translate into orders-of-magnitude changes in fatigue life. However, there is no
model currently available in the literature to predict these changes. In this paper, a micromechanics
model that includes the effects of the fibre-matrix interface is used in a simple cumulative damage
scheme to predict the tensile fatigue behaviour of composite laminates. A new parameter called the
'efficiency of the interface' is used to model the degradation of the interface under fatigue loading.
A rate equation that describes the changes in interfacial efficiency as a function of cycles is estimated
using experimentally determined stiffness reduction data. The influence of this interfacial efficiency
parameter on the tensile strength of unidirectional laminates is assessed using a micromechanics
model. The effect of damage on the stiffness of the laminate is estimated by solving a boundary value
problem associated with the particular damage mode (e.g. transverse matrix cracking). The fatigue
life of the laminate is estimated by considering changes in stiffness due to creep and damage in the
subcritical elements, and changes in strength associated with the critical element (0 ° ply). The
influence of a fibre-matrix interface is included in the model by considering the degradation in the
interface (interfacial efficiency) under fatigue loading. Changes in the interface property are used in
the micromechanics model to estimate changes in the in-situ tensile strength of the 0° ply. The stress
state and the strength of the 0° ply, calculated including the effects of damage, are then used in a
maximum strain failure criterion to determine the fatigue life of the laminate. Predictions from this
model are compared with experimental data. The predicted fatigue life and failure modes agree very
well with the experimental data.

(Keywords: fatigue; interface; damage; life prediction; composite laminate; micromechanics)

The fatigue behaviour of composite materials has been
a subject of active research in recent years. The
damage process in laminated composites subjected to
fatigue loading is significantly different from that
observed in conventional materials. Four main damage
modes have been observed in laminated composites
under fatigue loading: matrix cracking, fibre-matrix
debonding, delaminations, and fibre fracture t,2. Typi-
cally, matrix cracking and delamination occur early in
the life, while f i b r e - m a t r i x debonds and fibre fractures
initiate during the beginning of the life and accumulate
rapidly towards the end, leading to final failure 3. It
has been observed that the stiffness of the laminate
reduces during the process of damage accumulation in
laminated composites 4.5. Reifsnider and Stinchcomb 6
have investigated the concept of using stiffness change
as a non-destructive fatigue damage parameter. In
general, they found that stiffness change can be
quantitatively related to the fatigue life and residual
strength of composite laminates through various models
based on the observed microdamage.
The analytical modelling of damage in composite
materials and the prediction of the degradation of
properties under cyclic loading have received a great
deal of attention in the last few years. Talreja 7, Allen
et al. 8, and Joshi and Frantziskonis 9 have developed
models based on internal variables, to predict damage
accumulation under fatigue loading. N u m e r o u s semi-
empirical models have been proposed to predict the
stiffness degradation and fatigue life of laminated
composites. Lee and Daniels l° have used experimen-
tally determined S - N curves for 0 ° and 90 ° laminates
to predict the property degradation and fatigue life of
cross-ply laminates. Hashin and R o t e m ~l assumed that
failure could be described by a macroscopic failure
function in terms of the applied load. The failure
function contains unknown parameters, which are
determined from simple experiments. The failure
functions are dependent on the stress ratio, applied
load frequency and cycles. Charewicz and Danieis ~2
have proposed a model based on the assumption that
the rate of reduction of residual strength is a function
of the life fraction. H a h n and Kim ~3 assumed that
the residual strength reduction rate is inversely

343
344 S. Subramanian
proportional to the residual strength. Reifsnider and
Stinchcomb 14 have proposed a critical element model,
which assumes that the residual strength degradation
rate is a power law function of the number of cycles
and linearly dependent on the value of a failure
function. Hwang and Han Ls have used the fatigue
stiffness degradation in a maximum strain failure
criterion to predict the life of composites.
Liu and Lessard 16 have recently proposed a model
that assumes damage degradation rates to be pro-
portional to the applied stress and damage through a
power law relationship. They have used the S - N curve
of unidirectional material to estimate the constants in
this relationship. Recently Reifsnider and Gao 17 and
Subramanian et al. ts have proposed a micromechanics-
based approach to predict the fatigue life of unidirec-
tional laminates. They have used a modified form of
the M o r i - T a n a k a t9 method to estimate the stresses in
the matrix and fibre phases. These are used in
conjunction with the failure strengths of the matrix/
fibre phases in an appropriate failure criterion
(Tsai-Hill or maximum stress type) to estimate the
fatigue life of unidirectional laminates. None of these
models explicitly considers the influence of the
fibre-matrix interface.
Recent experimental results 2°'2~ indicate that the
region near the fibre surface, called the interphase,
could possess elastic properties that are significantly
different from those of the bulk matrix material. Small
changes in properties of the interphase could lead to
significantly altered fatigue performance. Swain -'1 and
Subramanian et al. 2° have shown that by varying the
local properties at the fibre-matrix interface level, the
fatigue life can be altered significantly. They have also
reported varied damage modes and failure mechanisms
in cross-ply laminates, which have the same fibres and
matrix, but different fibre-matrix interphases. In order
to predict the fatigue response of these composites, a
micromechanics-based model is appropriate. In this
paper, a micromechanics model is used in conjunction
with the critical element scheme ~ to predict the tensile
fatigue life of laminated composites. The predictions
from this model are compared with experimental
results reported in ref. 22.
D E S C R I P T I O N OF T H E M O D E L
A cumulative damage scheme based on the critical
element m o d e l proposed by Reifsnider and Stinch-
comb 14 is used to predict the fatigue behavior of
laminates. Figure 1 shows a schematic of the critical
element model. In this model, the laminate is assumed
to be composed of subcritical and critical elements.
The primary load-carrying members (e.g. fibres at the
fibre/matrix level, 0 ° ply at the lamina level) are
normally the critical elements. The secondary, non-
load-carrying members (e.g. matrix at the fibre/matrix
level, off-axis plies at the lamina level) are called the
subcritical elements. Non-catastrophic damage such as
matrix cracking, local delaminations etc. is typically
associated with subcritical elements. Strength of the
laminate is associated with failure of the critical
element. The reduction in stiffness as a function of
cycles, caused by damage in the subcritical elements,
is calculated by solving the boundary value problem
associated with the specific damage mode. Using the
et el.
[ Remaining Strength/ /
L
F~FailureCriterion~
[ Stateof~ ~Stateof
l Stress I J Material I
oic o es0 ;r°0ert'es
Macro-mechanic., L Evaluati°n I
!
_t I
Subcritical Critical
Element Element ,
J
Damage Failure
Mechanisms Modes
I "- "
[ Loading History, Geometry, Properties]
i
Figure 1 Schematic of the critical element model
reduced properties, the stress state in the critical
element is calculated as a function of cycles. Reduction
in the strength of the critical element as a function of
cycles is typically estimated from the S - N curve of
the 0 ° ply and from rate equations that describe any
time-dependent degradation such as environmental
attack. Knowing the stress state and strength of the
critical element as a function of cycles, failure of the
critical element is determined using a suitable failure
criterion (maximum strain, Tsai-Hill etc. ). The fatigue
life is estimated by calculating the number of cycles
or time required for the failure of the critical element.
The scheme described above has been used success-
fully in numerous earlier investigations 23"24 to predict
the fatigue life of laminated composites. However, in
this study, a micromechanics model described in ref.
22 is used in the above scheme to study the effects of
the interface on the tensile fatigue behaviour of cross-
ply laminates. This is done by varying a parameter
associated with the fibre-matrix interface, as a function
of cycles, and using a micromechanics model to
estimate the effect of this change on the in-situ tensile
strength of the 0 ° ply.
It is well known that the static tensile strength of
unidirectional laminates is related to fibre-matrix
bonding. Numerous recent experimental efforts 2-',25,26
have demonstrated this effect clearly. The influence
of the fibre-matrix interface on the tensile strength
of unidirectional laminates has been predicted by
many investigators using micromechanics models -'7.2~.
Recently, Subramanian et al. 22 have introduced a new
parameter called the efficien~;v o f the interface, 71, to
predict the influence of the interface on the tensile
strength of unidirectional composites. They have used
two parameters to describe the interface: the interracial
efficiency ~ and interfacial shear strength ri. Both of
these parameters can be easily determined through
simple experiments: namely, unidirectional tensile
modulus measurement and single fibre fragmentation
tests respectively. The interfacial efficiency determines
how well the load is transferred from the matrix to
the fibre. It is defined as the ratio between the

displacement in the fibre and the matrix at the interface
region (7 -- Uf/Um). If the bonding is perfect and there
is efficient load transfer from the matrix to the fibre,
7/--~ 1. If the bonding is imperfect and there is no
load transfer from the matrix to the fibre then ~ ~ 0.
In the tensile strength model, the stresses in the fibre
and the matrix are determined using shear lag analysis.
These stresses are used in an improved version of
Batdorf's analysis L9 to predict tensile strength.
Initiation of interfacial debonding is determined by
comparing the average shear stress at the interface
with the interfacial shear strength ri. The matrix is
assumed to behave in an elastic-perfectly plastic
manner. The model predicts the tensile strength and
the failure mode (elastic/plastic) of the unidirectional
composite. Failures accompanied by interracial debond-
ing are called plastic failures while the stress-concen-
tration-dominated failures with no interracial debond-
ing are termed elastic failures. The micromechanics
model shows that the tensile strength of a unidirectional
laminate increases as 7/ reduces, when the failure is
elastic (when there is no interracial debonding prior
to final failure). However, when the failure is plastic
(accompanied by interfacial debonding), the tensile
strength reduces as T/reduces. This effect is shown in
Figure 2. The transition from elastic to plastic failure
results in a sharp increase in tensile strength.
The authors 22 have described a simple scheme
to determine the efficiency parameter 7/ using the
experimentally measured tensile modulus of unidirec-
tional laminates in a concentric cylinders model.
Results indicate that as r/--~ 1 the modulus of the
unidirectional laminate approaches the value predicted
by the rule of mixtures, and as ~--* 0 it approaches
the matrix modulus. Thus the interracial efficiency
manifests itself in the form of a modulus reduction in
unidirectional laminates.
In this paper, the interfacial efficiency is used to
represent changes in the interfacial bonding condition
in the 0 ° ply of the laminate, under tensile fatigue
loading. Since the interfacial efficiency is directly
related to the modulus of the unidirectional laminate,
O. 60
M Weibull shape factor for the fiber
ct o Weibull location parameter for the fiber
0.55:
8.50-
0/~ o
S ===== M
0.45-
O. 40-
0.3B l l l l l l l till JJlll J l l l ] l ] l , r l l ] t l l ~ l ~ l I F l i l
0.20 ~, 40 ~, 60 O. 80
Figure 2 Variation of normalized tensile strength with the efficiency
factor r/(ref. 22)
Fatigue life of composite laminates 345
it is advantageous to use this parameter to describe
the degradation of the interface under fatigue loading.
The exact form of this degradation equation can be
estimated from the stiffness reduction in the 0 ° ply
of the laminate under cyclic loading. Knowing the
interracial degradation rate (changes in interracial
shear strength and/or efficiency) as a function of
cycles, the influence of the interphase on tensile fatigue
behaviour can be predicted using the critical element
model in conjunction with the micromechanics model
described in ref. 22.
It must be mentioned here that the direct experimental
determination of interfacial shear strength degradation
as a function of cycles is difficult because most
interfacial strength measurement tests require model
composites. Also, there is no non-destructive testing
technique currently available to estimate the degra-
dation of interfacial strength under fatigue loading.
Hence the use of a parameter such as interracial
efficiency (that can be directly estimated from the
stiffness reduction data of the laminate) to describe the
interfacial degradation would be greatly advantageous.
Reduction in the strength of the 0 ° ply is estimated
using the S - N , curve which is typically expressed in
the following form:
~PP = A . - B. [log(N)]",, (1)
~ttlt
where f t . , B,, P, are material constants, ~,pp is the
applied external stress, (r,t,, is the static tensile strength
and N is the fatigue life. Note that the static tensile
strength of the 0 ° laminate is a function of the
interracial efficiency parameter rl, and varies as a
function of cycles. It is claimed that the constants in
the tensile strength reduction curve of a unidirectional
laminate are unaffected by changes in the interface.
However, the in-situ tensile strength of the unidirec-
tional laminate is influenced by the interracial bonding
condition, which is characterized by two parameters:
the interracial efficiency ~ and interracial shear strength
"q. It is postulated that the interfacial bonding condition
changes with cycles, in the 0 ° ply of the cross-ply
laminate.
Knowing the interfacial strength/efficiency degra-
dation rate, the in-situ tensile strength of the unidirec-
tional laminate can be estimated as a function of cycles
I ---ii..~ using the micromechanics model described in ref. 22.
This tensile strength is used in the S - N curve of the
= 7
0° ply to estimate the in-situ tensile strength of the 0°
ply and the corresponding life, N, as a function of
cycles. The influence of the interface on the tensile
fatigue behaviour is characterized using different
interfacial degradation rates in the 0 ° ply of the
laminates in the micromechanics model. In this analysis,
the degradation in interfacial strength is not considered.
It is assumed that the changes in the interface can be
represented completely by rate equations that describe
the changes in the interfacial efficiency rt, under tensile
fatigue loading.
[ Elas~
f f l l l l l l
1 . O0 1 • 20 PREDICTION OF TENSILE F A T I G U E LIFE OF
CROSS-PLY L A M I N A T E S WITH D I F F E R E N T
INTERPHASES
The cumulative damage scheme outlined in the previous
section is used to predict the influence of an interface
346 S. Subramanian et al.

on the tensile fatigue life of cross-ply laminates. To Figure 4 shows the stiffness reduction curves for the
illustrate the application of the model, the experimental three material systems at 80% load level. The figure
results reported in ref. 20 are used. shows that damage, as measured by stiffness reduction
in the laminate, is different in these material systems.
Experimental data The 810 A and 820 A laminates reveal less damage,
Subramanian et al.22 have systematically altered the while the 810 O laminate shows significantly greater
fibre-matrix interface, and studied the effects on the damage. The failure of the 810 A and 820 A laminates
tensile fatigue behavior of (0,903)s cross-ply laminates. is sudden, while there is a significant increase in the
A brief description of the material systems used in stiffness reduction rate in the 810 O laminate prior
their study and a summary of the results is provided to final failure. Results indicate that the damage
in this section. Three material systems, designated as mechanisms and failure modes in these materials are
810 A, 820 A and 810 O, were used to study the different under tensile fatigue loading.
effects of interphase. The same Apollo fibres and HC In addition to the results reported in ref. 20, the
9106-3 toughened epoxy matrix were used in all three variation in the transverse crack density in these
material systems. However, the fibres used in the 810 laminates was also measured as a function of cycles,
A and 820 A systems received 100% and 200% and is reported in ref. 31. A master curve (independent
industry standard surface treatment respectively, and of applied load level) of transverse crack density
were sized with Bisphenol-A unreacted epoxy material. variation was obtained for the three material systems by
The fibres in the 810 O system received 100% surface multiplying the transverse crack density by (1 - ~r..... /
treatment and were sized with polyvinylpyrrolidone O'static ). These normalized data were fitted with a
(pvp), a thermoplastic material. The amount of sizing power law curve, and are shown in Figure 5. Room
material used in these systems was less than l wt%. temperature tensile creep test results on (90)12 lami-
The authors have verified the formation of different nates of the three material systems are also reported
interphases in these material systems using a perman- in ref. 31. These are shown in Figure O. The figure
ganic etching technique 3°. Some preliminary tensile indicates that the 810 O system, with a thermoplastic
fatigue life and damage analysis results for (0,903).~ sizing, exhibits the greatest creep compliance changes,
cross-ply laminates have been reported in ref. 20. and the 810 A and 820 A systems show similar creep
However. for completeness, the results have been behaviour. The data for each material system were
reproduced here. fitted with a logarithmic curve and are shown as
The S - N curves for the three material systems are dashed and continuous lines in the figure. These
shown in Figure 3. The fatigue tests were performed experimental results were used to generate the inputs
at R = 0.1 and 10 Hz frequency• The figure indicates necessary for the fatigue life prediction model.
that the fatigue lives of cross-ply laminates with altered
interphases are vastly different. Small changes in the Fatigue life prediction
interphase results in fatigue lives that are different by A schematic of the cumulative damage scheme
orders of magnitude. Increase in surface treatment (based on the critical element model) used to predict
level shifts the S - N curve to the right and increases life of (0,903)~ cross-ply laminates is shown in Figure
the slope of the curve by a small amount. The use of 7. This model could be generalized very easily for
pvp sizing material instead of Bisphenol-A epoxy shifts other laminates containing 0° plies. The model requires
the S - N curve to the right and also increases the slope rate equations that describe damage evolution in the
of the curve significantly. material as a function of cycles. These include the
transverse crack density and creep compliance vari-
ation, strength degradation in the 0° ply and the

iI'001~".
"-.- Z &%,. . . . . . _~ ._
Z ~ "- -
Ld 1""---.. ", "..
OC
F-
t
]
, ~
~
, ~..
\
,'.ooo
" ~ &90
\
o -. D
hJ
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J \
F- ,i , * , , B10A -. <0.~
0')0.70. ALAA_~B100 "" E
0 # @ B20A
0 ~ 8100
0 ** ~ 820A
2"
"0-_ t

0 • 60 r l lllllr I I I llllll I I I llllll I l 1 ;IIlH I I I lllr[l O.7@ I I l l t ] t l f l t t t r l I l l t J t l i l r f r r P l l t l l l t l l l l t ~ r l i l ~

10 = I0 3 10 4 10 ~ 10 n 10 7 0.80 0.20 0, 40 0.60 0.80 1. ~0
L I F E (CYCLES) NORMLIZED L~FE

Figure 3 S - N curves for the 810 A, 810 O and 820 A cross-ply Figure 4 Variation of normalized stiffness reduction in the 810 A,
laminates 2° 810 O and 82(1 A cross-ply laminates at 80% load level-'"
 Fatigue life of composite laminates 347

90* ply 0 o ply

I@

Transverse Creep Inteffacial Fatigue

Z9 Efficiency Strength
Cracks Stiffness
vs Reduction vs Reduction
-

Cycles Cycles (S-N Curve)

7--
- I I
Strength/Stiffness
6- Stiffness Reduction
O~
Reduction due to
' 5- debonding

4
N
eo 3
e"
/
Total Stiffness / To;;IuSct~r::gth
u
Reduction

\
IIIII BI@O
O0_OO_OB2gA

Stress state
I lIllln I i i iilliq I i nlllq i ilIllll I i I ]l/Ill I I I I I]llq I J [[,ll
0 ° ply
1~ 18 2 I@ 3 I@' I@ = 1~ ~' I@'
C Y C L E S (N)
~l Failure function ]
Figure 5 Variation of normalized transverse crack density with k (Maximum Strai~
cycles in the three material systemP ~
1
! FAT,G0 ',FE !
] i ; ~)
I i
~11 1 • lf=
610 A Figure 7 Schematic of the cumulative damage scheme used to
Hlf/ L' predict damage and fatigue life of cross-ply laminates
8:7", I A
i-

Experimental results indicate that for a (0,903)~

~
I
1
"
'L1
2 I 1 i ' "t;
IJ)
[]
_ _ £1r?
: ,.~
U bution in the laminate, with the 0 ° ply carrying
(',. J~
~, ~r,,:~~ ::L,~;L' "L~L 1@@0@128@@
Figure 6 Variation of normalized creep compliance in the 810 A,
810 O and 820 A (90),2 laminates"
variation of the micromechanics p a r a m e t e r defined as
the efficiency of the interface, r~, as a function of
cycles. The different rate equations used for the three
material systems are displayed in Table 1. The power
law curve representing the variation in transverse crack
density as a function of cycles (Figure 5) is provided
as an input into the model. The transverse crack
density data are used on a one-dimensional shear lag
model 32 to estimate the stiffness reduction due to
matrix cracking as a function of cycles. The variation
of stiffness in the 90 ° ply as a function of time due to
creep (Figure 6) is also input into the model in the
form of a power law equation. The total stiffness
reduction in the 90 ° ply is obtained by adding the
stiffness reduction due to creep and matrix cracking.
The stresses in the 0 ° ply are then estimated, as a
function of cycles, using the reduced properties in
classical laminated plate theory.
cross-ply laminate, most of the stiffness reduction
occurs during the first 10% of the life of the laminate.
During this stage, the crack density increases in the
90 ° ply and reaches a saturation value. Transverse
-
cracking in the 90 ° ply results in local stress redistri-
additional load. Subsequent to the saturation of
transverse matrix cracking, all the load is carried by
the 0 ° ply in the laminate, and the laminate essentially
behaves like a 0 ° ply. Since the laminate behaves like
5@8@ a 0 ° ply after the first 10% of the life, it is assumed
that the life of the laminate is determined by the S - N
curve of the 0 ° ply. Hence the S - N curve of the 0 °
ply is considered to represent the tensile strength
reduction in the 0 ° ply of the cross-ply laminate. It
must be emphasized that this assumption would not
be valid if the off-axis plies carried load for a significant
portion of the life. For such laminates, the residual
strength reduction equation must be generalized to
account for the variation in local stresses in the 0 ° ply
over the entire life of the laminate.
The S - N curve of the 0 ° ply is provided as input to
the model. The effect of f i b r e - m a t r i x interface is
included in the analysis by considering the degradation
of the interracial efficiency as a function of cycles. A
rate equation describing the change in interracial
efficiency as a function of cycles is input into the
model. The changes in tensile strength of the 0 ° ply
are then estimated as a function of cycles, using the
reduced interfacial efficiency in the micromechanics
model. This is then used in the S - N curve of the 0 °
ply to estimate the in-situ tensile strength and life of
the critical element as a function of cycles. The local
stresses and in-situ tensile strength of the 0 ° ply are
348 S. Subramanian e t al.

Table 1 Equations for the 810 A. 820 A and 810 O material system used in the fatigue damage and life prediction mudel

Process
modelled 810 A 810 O 820 A

Crack n[1 - ((r,,,,,~ler,,,,)J = 2 (N) ...... nil - (~r,,,,,,/,r,,,)] 2 (N) ....... nil (c%.~/cru,,) [ 0.4 {A,'),,.
density vs
cycles
S - N curve e,/"' = ~(," ( 1.06 0.012 ln(N)"") e,,'.... e,,~' ( 1.06 (1.012In(N)"") E,,'.... e,," ( 1.06 0.012 In(N)" ")
of 0° ply
Efficiency 7/ = 0.95 ~ = 0.76 -- 3e 7.x rt = 0,90
vs cycles
Stiffness E~,)~'p = E,,,[1.03 (t) .......] E,,,)c'P= E.,,,[1.09 (t) .....~"1 E.,,/~P= E,,,[ 1.03 (t) ....... {
reduction in
90° ply due
to creep

n = number of transverse cracks/in; N - number of cycles: t - time (s); r/ = efliciencv factor: L,,, = unidirectional transverse stiffness (msi):
E~(( ~p = unidirectional transverse stiffness including creep effects (msi - psi × 1(]": psi lbf in :)

then used in a m a x i m u m strain failure criterion to
determine the fatigue life of the laminate.
It must be pointed out here that the equations
describing crack density and creep compliance vari-
ations were o b t a i n e d experimentally for these material
systems, H o w e v e r , the S - N curve for the 0 ° laminate
is not available for these material systems. H e n c e a
logarithmic e q u a t i o n that is typical of g r a p h i t e / e p o x y
unidirectional laminates is used. The same S - N curve
is used for the three material systems because the
same fibre and matrix were used in these materials. A n
additional rate e q u a t i o n that describes the interfacial
degradation as a function of cycles is used to represent
the role of the interphase u n d e r fatigue loading. As
m e n t i o n e d earlier, the interfacial efficiency is directly
ply discount theory. Also, the stiffness continues to
reduce after the initial stage, and accelerates towards
the end of the life of the laminate. This leads one to
believe that there is significant stiffness reduction in
the 0 ° ply of the laminate during fatigue loading. Since
the stiffness of the 0 ° ply is directly related to the
efficiency of the interface, it is claimed that there is
appreciable degradation in the interfacial efficiency
during tensile fatigue loading in the 810 O system.
Based on the stiffness reduction data, a rate equation
of the following form is used to describe the change
in interfacial efficiency with cycles:
1/ = O. 76 - e 7 I , , g l ,, ) (2)

related to the longitudinal m o d u l u s of the 0 ° ply. The equations used to represent the degradation in
H e n c e the rate e q u a t i o n representing the change in rt as a function of cycles for the three material systems
interracial efficiency as a function of cycles was are shown in F i g u r e 8. Using the rate equations
estimated from the experimentally d e t e r m i n e d stiffness described in T a b l e 1 (and discussed a b o v e ) , the tensile
reduction curves. fatigue behaviour of cross-ply laminates with different
The stiffness reduction in the 810 A and 820 A interphases is predicted. The predicted values were
laminates is small ( < 10%), and there is no significant c o m p a r e d with the experimental data reported in
stiffness reduction in these laminates after the first ref. 20.
10% of the life. This indicates that most of the stiffness
reduction is due to d a m a g e in the 90 ° ply, and there
is very little stiffness reduction in the 0 ° ply of the
I, 88-
laminates. This idea is further confirmed by the simple
ply discount t h e o r y calculations that indicate that a
total of 12% stiffness reduction will occur in the
8.88
laminate if the 90 ° ply is discounted completely. It
must be a d d e d that, since the d y n a m i c stiffness was
m e a s u r e d during fatigue tests, it is difficult to correlate
the dynamic stiffness reduction with the reduction in 0.60
<
secant m o d u l u s predicted by the shear lag model and
the ply discount theory. LJ
In addition to this, the d a m a g e analysis results 0.40 --810 A
--81@ @
r e p o r t e d in ref. 20 indicate that there is very little -- 828 A
interfacial d a m a g e in the 0 ° ply of the 810 A and 820
A laminates, while there is substantial interfacial 0.20
d e b o n d i n g in the 810 O laminate. With this in mind,
it is a s s u m e d that the interfacial efficiency does not
vary u n d e r fatigue loading in the 810 A and 820 A 0.00 J ttlH, I ; ~tlmq i I~I~HI I t i~tHlr I r Tll;rH I

laminates. H o w e v e r , the stiffness reduction data for 10 1~ 2 103 l~ 4 1(~ ~ 10 ~

CYCLES (N)
the 810 O laminates indicate a vastly different trend.
The a m o u n t of dynamic stiffness reduction is greatly Figure 8 Variation in interfacial efficiency r/in the three materials
in excess of the 13% reduction predicted by the simple during fatigue loading
 Fatigue life of composite laminates 349

1.00- 1.00-

z I
L~0.90 ~0.90
z z
w w
8c
l-
co F
\0.80 03
o1 ,,0.83.
oi o1
Ld 03
OC w * l
F
010.70 , . , , , EXPT b
~AAAAPRED (/)0.70 ***** EXPT
AAAnA PRED

0, 6 8 - - ~ l ~ ~ r , i,,,,, I L , , I , , u ~ T,;,,

10 ~ , i ,1~,~11 ~ ,,,i,i, I T ~ r T ' ~ T " F i IW'~X

L IFE (CYCLES) 1~ ~ 10 ~
LIFE (CYCLES)
Figure 9 Comparison of experimental and predicted fatigue lives
of 810 A laminales Figure 11 Comparisonof experimental and predicted fatigue lives
of 810 O laminates

A comparison of the experimental and predicted

the stress concentration effects near broken fibres,
fatigue lives for the three material systems at the
and the ineffective length. When the failure of the
different load levels is shown in Figures 9-11. The
laminate is elastic, the stress concentration effects
figures show a good correlation between experimental
control the tensile strength. When the failure is
and predicted fatigue lives. It is also interesting to
note that the micromechanics model predicts the plastic (accompanied by interfacial debonding/matrix
failure mode associated with the 0 ° ply of the laminate. yielding), the ineffective length controls the tensile
The model predicts an elastic failure, with no interfacial strength of the laminate. [n general, the presence of
debonding, in the 810 A and 820 A laminates. In fibre-matrix debonding reduces the stress concen-
contrast, the model predicts failure accompanied by tration effects and increases the ineffective length. In
interfacial debonding in the 810 O laminates under the high-stress, low-life situation, the stress concen-
fatigue loading at all three load levels. This agrees tration effects control the failure of the 810 O laminate.
very well with the experimentally observed failure The presence of debonds in the 0 ° ply alleviates the
modes reported in ref. 20. stress concentration effects in this regime and increases
Based on the experimental results and the predictions the fatigue life of the 810 O laminates. In the low-
from the model, it is claimed that the presence of load, longqife regime, the ineffective length controls
interfacial debonding influences the fatigue behaviour the final failure of the 810 O laminates. The presence
in the following manner. Since a simple cross-ply of debonding increases the ineffective length and
laminate is used in this study, the fatigue life of the reduces the fatigue life under these conditions. This
laminate is determined by the failure of the 0 ° ply in is reflected in the greater slope of the S-N curves of
the laminate. It is well known that the tensile strength the 810 O laminates.
of unidirectional laminates is controlled by two factors: It can thus be concluded that, for the material
systems under investigation, the presence of
fibre-matrix debonds in the 0 ° ply shifts the S-N
curve to the right and also increases the slope of the
S-N curve. The S-N curve of the 820 A laminate is
shifted to the right, c o m p a r e d with that of the 810 A
] laminate. This is probably due to the lower static
l :
strength of the 820 A cross-ply laminate. The absolute
stress levels at which the 820 A laminates were cycled
Z were significantly lower than those of the 810 A
W
b laminates. The present model predicts these effects
very well.

Fatigue damage prediction

m
[g The stiffness reduction in the cross-ply laminates
0~@.7@. * * * * ' EXPT predicted using the shear lag model is used to estimate
l,a^^A PRED damage in the laminate as a function of cycles. D a m a g e
is defined as
F

10 2 1~ ~
i i TJ~Iq~T~I

1@'
Illlllq

1~ ~
I I JIMIq

10 ~
I Ib,ll.

1~ 7
D(n)= I -\
(EE,,n) ) (3)
LIFE (CYCLES)

Figure 10 Comparison of experimental and predicted fatigue lives where D(n) and E(n) are damage and stiffness after
of 820 ,k laminates n cycles, and E,, is the initial stiffness of the laminate.
350 S. Subramanian et al.

0.3( 0.40-
***** E)O~T ( BS~ ***** E~T (B6s)
..i,-- E)C'T (Bes) AAa~AE)~T (B~v3
E~OT (75s) 00000 E)~°T (75s)
0,2 ~
. _ PREP(BB~ __ PREO (B6s)
PREP(B~ _ _lED (8(}i)
PREI)( ~
~,3~ _ PREP¢75~

0.20
Ld
0
<
3-0,15 A
<I~ AI
D • a
$
0.10 . _ I ---~ --
~A 0 0
0.10~
0.Og

~.~ ,llrlllr [IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~II,II[IIITII,II

0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.130 1.00
NORMALIZED CYCLES 0,00 0.2~ 0.40 ~,60 0,80 Ii00

Figure12 Comparison of experimental and predicted damage in NORMALIZED CYCLES

810 A laminates Figure14 Comparison of experimental and predicted damage in
810 O laminates

In the fatigue experiments described in ref. 20, the CONCLUSIONS

dynamic stiffness was monitored as a function of
In this paper, a micromechanics model is used in a
cycles. These values are used in Equation (3) to
cumulative damage scheme to predict the tensile
estimate damage progression in the laminate. The
fatigue response of composite laminates with different
experimental and predicted variation of damage in the
fibre-matrix interfaces. The model is used to predict
810 A, 820 A and 810 O laminates at different load
the influence of the fibre-matrix interface on the
levels is shown in Figures 12, 13 and 14 respectively.
fatigue life and failure mode of cross-ply laminates.
The figures indicate that the damage accumulation
The role of the interphase is modelled by considering
predicted by the model correlates well with the
the degradation of the interfacial efficiency T/ under
experimental values reported in ref. 20. It must
fatigue loading. A rate equation that describes this
be mentioned here that since the dynamic stiffness
phenomenon is estimated from experimentally meas-
reduction was monitored during the fatigue exper-
ured stiffness reduction curves. The model is used to
iments, and the model developed in this paper predicts
predict the tensile fatigue behaviour of cross-ply
the reduction in static stiffness as a function of cycles,
laminates with tailored interfaces reported in ref. 20.
the numerical values of experimental and predicted
Results indicate that the predicted fatigue life agrees
damage do not agree very well. But the trends predicted
well with experimental data. The fatigue lives of the
by the model correlate well with the experimental
820 A laminates are higher than those of the 810 A
observations for all three material systems.
and 810 O laminates at all three load levels. The 810
A laminates have lower life at 85% load level and
higher life at 75% load level compared with the 810
O laminate• The S - N curve for the 810 O laminate
has the highest slope, followed by the 820 A and 810
0, 3~"
A laminates. The model also predicts the failure mode
-***E~T (c~z)
of the laminate under fatigue loading. The model
predicts a brittle stress-concentration-controlled failure
OOOO0~T (Sez)
--PIED ( ~ ) in the 810 A and 820 A laminates. In contrast, the
- - PIED (BGz)
failure in the 810 O laminates is predicted to be
0.~" --FED (8~)
accompanied by interfacial debonding at all three
W
o load levels. These predictions agree very well with
<
)- experimental data.
< This is one of the first known successful attempts
O
to model the influence of a fibre-matrix interface on
the tensile fatigue behaviour of composite laminates
and to predict the experimentally observed effects of
nf the interphase on the tensile fatigue life of laminated
composites. The present model could be used to assess
the possible influences of local alteration at the
~,~ I I I I i I , , I t I I , ; , I I , I I I I I I I I I I I ~ , III ; ' ' I J [II I I I I I fibre-matrix-interface level on the long-term perform-
0,00 0.20 0.40 0,60 0.80 • 00 ance of composites. Using the proposed model, the
NORMALIZEDCYCLES designer can specify how the constituent materials
Figure13 Comparison of experimental and predicted damage in should be put together to improve the fatigue perform-
820 A laminates ance characteristics of advanced composite materials.
 Fatigue life of composite laminates
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully appreciate the support of
the Air Force Phillips Laboratory, NASA Langley
Research Center, The National Science Foundation
Science and Technology Center DMR 9120004, and
the Virginia Institute of Materials Systems.
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