Stress-Rupture of Simple S-Glass/Epoxy Composites

Abstract

The stress-rupture of S-glass/epoxy composites has been studied. A 40 ksi increase in stress reduces the life of an S-glass/epoxy composite by a factor of 10. An empirical extrapolation of 15,000 hours of testing implies that S-glass/epoxy composites can sustain an equivalent fiber stress of 200 ksi for 10 years. The S-glass/epoxy stress-rupture distributions from over 1300 tests are described by an exponential model and are related to the applied stress by a power law in time.