Experimental fatigue behavior of carbon/flax hybrid composites under tensile loading

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate the mechanical behavior of carbon/flax hybrid composites under static and fatigue tensile loading. The failure characteristics and parameters used in the fatigue tests were deduced from the static ones. The effect of the applied stress level, hybridization and stacking sequences on the stiffness, hysteresis loops, dissipated energy and damping, were studied for a various number of cycles during fatigue tests. The Wohler S-N curves were constructed to investigate the effect of hybridization on the fatigue behavior. The results obtained show that the fatigue performance as well as the fatigue resistance increase with the increase of the volume fraction of carbon fiber. Nevertheless, the damping ratio and the fatigue life increase with the increase of the flax fiber volume fraction.