Delamination—a damage mode in composite structures

Abstract The composite structures have a tendency to delaminate which reduces the strength and stiffness and thus limits the life of a structure. This behavior of composites has caused concern amongst the designers to find the ways to delay or prevent delamination in order to increase the life and the load bearing capability of the structure. Some of the solutions being considered are: proper lay-up sequence to minimize the interlaminar stresses, improved structural configurations such as discrete stiffness design, stitching, tough resin systems and the hybrids. The present paper discusses the state of the art of delamination behavior. A few of the aspects considered here are: causes of delamination and its effect on structural performance, analytical and experimental techniques to predict its behavior and some of the preventive measures to delay the delamination so as to make the structure more damage tolerant.

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