Data-Rich Characterisation Of Damage Propogation In Composite Materials After Intermediate Strain Rate Loading

A novel semi-automated triggering methodology for the capture of high resolution white-light and infra-red (IR) images during a fatigue test is described, allowing digital image correlation (DIC) and thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) to be applied without pausing of the cyclic load. The combined methodology is applied to crossply carbon-epoxy specimens, identifying various damage types including; transverse cracking, delaminations and longitudinal splitting, which was verified using X-ray computed tomography (CT).