Investigation of Acoustic Emission During Fatigue Loading of Composite Specimens

Abstract

Strain and load controlled fatigue tests were run on boron-aluminum and boron-epoxy angle-plied specimens. Acoustic emission data was recorded using a gating technique that eliminated most extraneous noise. Various material parameters were monitored during the test. A good corre lation between acoustic emission and damage extent and propagation was obtained. This was evidenced by an apparent first order linear relationship between dynamic compliance and totalized acoustic emission. A basis for an energy based failure model is formulated and discussed.