Fatigue Damage Mechanisms in Advanced Hybrid Titanium Composite Laminates

Hybrid Titanium Composite Laminates (HTCL) are a type of hybrid composite laminate with promise for high-speed aerospace applications, specifically designed for improved damage tolerance and strength at high-temperature (350 F, 177 C). However, in previous testing, HTCL demonstrated a propensity to excessive delamination at the titanium/PMC interface following titanium cracking. An advanced HTCL has been constructed with an emphasis on strengthening this interface, combining a PETI-5/IM7 PMC with Ti-15-3 foils prepared with an alkaline-perborate surface treatment. This paper discusses how the fatigue capabilities of the "advanced" HTCL compare to the first generation HTCL which was not modified for interface optimization, in both tension-tension (R = 0.1) and tension-compression (R=-0.2). The advanced HTCL under did not demonstrate a significant improvement in fatigue life, in either tension-tension or tension-compression loading. However, the advanced HTCL proved much more damage tolerant. The R = 0.1 tests revealed the advanced HTCL to increase the fatigue life following initial titanium ply damage up to 10X that of the initial HTCL at certain stress levels. The damage progression following the initial ply damage demonstrated the effect of the strengthened PMC/titanium interface. Acetate film replication of the advanced HTCL edges showed a propensity for some fibers in the adjacent PMC layers to fail at the point of titanium crack formation, suppressing delamination at the Ti/PMC interface. The inspection of failure surfaces validated these findings, revealing PMC fibers bonded to the majority of the titanium surfaces. Tension compression fatigue (R = -0.2) demonstrated the same trends in cycles between initial damage and failure, damage progression, and failure surfaces. Moreover, in possessing a higher resistance to delamination, the advanced HTCL did not exhibit buckling following initial titanium ply cracking under compression unlike the initial HTCL.