The effect of lamination-induced stresses on fatigue damage development at internal flaws

The effects of stresses induced by the lamination of off-axis plies to O-deg lamina on the development of damage during the fatigue loading of the O-deg plies are discussed. The transverse normal stresses in the plane of the laminae and the laminate created by the laminating constraints when an axial force is applied to the laminate are calculated in terms of a differential Poisson ratio between the ply in question in the unconstrained and constrained states, and significant differences in the constraint environments of an unnotched specimen joined to plies of 45 and 90 deg inclination are noted which correspond to an increase in longitudinal splitting in the 90 deg case and a marked decrease in longitudinal splitting in the 45 deg case. If a notch is present, shear and crack-opening damage is found to be very effectively suppressed in 45-deg laminates, and less so in the 90-deg case. It is pointed out that whereas the 45-deg laminate represents the least damage situation, it does not have the greatest notched strength. It is concluded that an understanding and prediction of damage development in laminates requires knowledge of the stress fields caused by the lamination constraints.