Short beam interlaminar shear behavior and electrical resistance-based damage self-sensing of woven carbon/epoxy composite laminates in a cryogenic environment

This article investigates the interlaminar shear behavior and damage detection of woven carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite laminates at cryogenic temperatures. Short beam shear tests were performed at room temperature and liquid hydrogen temperature (20 K), and the temperature dependence of the apparent interlaminar shear strength was examined. The electrical resistance of the composite specimens was also monitored during the tests. A detailed observation of the tested specimens was made to assess the damage, and the relationship between the damage and the electrical resistance was discussed. In addition, the stress, strain and current density distributions in the short beam shear specimens were determined by the finite element method. The numerical results were used to better understand and explain the experimental findings.