Effect of methods for micro-fillers dispersion in-between plies on fatigue performance of thermoplastic composites

Abstract

The effect of micro-size core–shell particles (CSPs) dispersion in-between the plies of CF/PA6 laminates on its tension–tension (T–T) fatigue performance is studied. The CSPs were dispersed using two different dispersion methods, namely: a sieve-assisted process and a pump-assisted process at ply the interfaces. The heat-assisted compression molding was used to fabricate the laminates. Baseline tensile and T–T fatigue tests were conducted to compare performance of the laminates fabricated using these two methods and analyzed based on the S-N curve, stiffness degradation, and energy dissipation. It was observed that the uniform CSPs dispersion improved the tensile strength and fatigue life respectively by 1.1 and 3 times, when pump-assisted dispersion was used. Furthermore, through the statistical reliability study of tensile data, it was observed that the pump-assisted method is better, more reliable, and consistent. The fatigue test results also showed that both dispersion methods affect the stiffness degradation and energy dissipation significantly.