Does hygrothermal degradation of Mode I fatigue delamination resistance in carbon fibre reinforced polymer laminates depend on the ageing conditions?

Hygrothermal ageing has detrimental effect of the fatigue delamination growth (FDG) in carbon fibre reinforced polymer laminates, and may increase the crack growth rate by a factor of ∼5. The paper examines, how this degradation for Mode I fatigue delamination is affected by the severity of the ageing conditions. Fatigue delamination tests for R = 0.1 and R = 0.5 are conducted after ageing (1) at 70 °C 85 % relative humidity (RH) and (2) immersion in 70 °C water bath (WB). Paris-type FDG characterisation is derived, in the form, which accounts for the effect of fibre bridging. It is demonstrated that parameters of FDG degradation do not differ for these two types of hygrothermal ageing. The physical reasons for this are examined using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and fractographic analysis, which revealed similar irreversible degradation of the material near the fibre/matrix interface and in the matrix itself, and the similar damage mechanisms in fatigue delamination. Furthermore, this study can highlight the importance of obeying similitude principles in FDG characterisation, and provide extra information for the ISO standard development for mode I fatigue delamination in unidirectional carbon fibre reinforced polymer composites.