On the Tensile Behaviour of CF and CFRP Materials under High Strain Rates

The paper deals with dynamic tensile tests on Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer – CFRP laminates. As a result of their viscoelastic nature, plastics exhibit rate dependence in their stress-strain response. The need to develop failure criteria to determine the dynamic failure stress for composite material under dynamic loading conditions is a current challenge for the research community. The main goal of such paper is to assess the efficiency of the analytical models provided by literature to predict the strain-rate effects on composite coupons tensile strength. Moreover, experimental tests have been performed in order to evaluate the mechanical behaviour of different stacking sequences at different strain rate.