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Analysis of Progressive Tensile Damage of Multi-walled Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Carbon Fiber Composites by Using Acoustic Emission and Micro-CT

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Abstract

The potential to provide improved performance for advanced composites through the addition of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) to carbon fiber composites is of interest in several applications. To investigate performance four types of composite specimens with different off-axis angles were subjected to progressive tensile loading. The results show that MWCNTs can improve the bearing capacity of the composite and the off-axis orientation angle can enhance the toughness of the composite. During loading acoustic emission (AE) signals were collected and they were post-processed using cluster analysis based on a Fuzzy C-Means algorithm. The analysis of the AE signals shows that data can be divided into categories which correlate with three damage modes: matrix cracking, fiber debonding and fiber breakage. The AE peak frequency characteristics of each damage mode were identified. Additional characterization was provided by using micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT) during the progressive tensile loading process. The CT images visualize damage location and evolution in the composites and data exhibit good correlations with the AE data for defects predication. The combination of AE and micro-CT technology were shown to effectively characterize damage evolution of the composites, and such data can potentially serve as a reference for the structural health monitoring of these composites when used in structures.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Science and Technology Program of Beijing Municipal Education Commission (Grant No. KM202010005020) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 119002010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Ning Pei

  2. Key Laboratory of Fundamental Science for Advanced Machining, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Ning Pei

  3. Faculty of Materials and Manufacturing, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China

    Junjun Shang

  4. Department of Aerospace Engineering & Center for Nondestructive Evaluation, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50010, USA

    Leonard J. Bond

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  1. Ning Pei
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  2. Junjun Shang
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  3. Leonard J. Bond
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Correspondence to Leonard J. Bond.

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Pei, N., Shang, J. & Bond, L.J. Analysis of Progressive Tensile Damage of Multi-walled Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Carbon Fiber Composites by Using Acoustic Emission and Micro-CT. J Nondestruct Eval 40, 51 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-021-00780-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-021-00780-y

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