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Composite materials manufactured by overlapping plies with certain specific geometries are likely to lose part of their strength due to the presence of internally delaminated regions. The aim of this paper is to experimentally evaluate the generation and propagation of these interlaminar cracks in a carbon-epoxy composite material subjected to fatigue loading under mixed mode I/II fracture. Two different test methods were used for this purpose: The standardized mixed-mode bending (MMB) test and the asymmetric double cantilever beam (ADCB) test, with the goal of exploring the viability of the ADCB test as a simpler alternative to perform than the MMB test, especially in fatigue testing. With this aim in mind and after prior static characterization of the material in which the critical values of the energy release rate were determined under both test methods, the levels of the energy release rate to be applied in fatigue tests were defined for two mode mixity ratios, G II / G c = 0.2 and 0.4 (0.34 ADCB), and a fatigue loading ratio, R = G min / G max = 0.1. The G-N fatigue onset curves were subsequently obtained from these experimental data. The most relevant result of the study is that the fatigue limits obtained using the MMB method are generally more conservative than those obtained via the ADCB method.

The present paper studies the fatigue delamination behaviour of an epoxy/carbon composite material under mode III loading using a longitudinal half fixed beam (LHFB) device initially designed for mode III static tests of composite materials formed by the stacking of plies. For this purpose, a series of tests was carried out at different levels of loading representative of the fatigue behaviour of the material, from the crack onset phase through the delamination phase to final fracture. The experimental results were treated statistically, obtaining the values of the fatigue limit for probabilities of fracture of 5% and 50%. Finally, a fractographic analysis of the fracture surfaces was performed which allowed us to identify the same characteristic patterns of static mode III fracture, namely broken fibres, cusps and saw-teeth, in addition to a new morphology consisting of the formation of agglomerations of resin produced by the friction between the lips of the specimen in the fracture zone that point to dynamic mode III fracture. These agglomerations eventually crack and become detached from the fibres, leaving these free of resin., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.