Journal of Material Sciences & Engineering

Stress-Strain Characterization in Fiber-Reinforced Composites by Digital Image Correlation

Abstract

Heredia AS, Aguilar PAM and Ocampo AM

Composite materials are widely used in structural mechanics as they can withstand high loads; although after a while, they can present relative strain due to these loadings. In the present work, it is implemented digital image correlation using one laser-beam and the speckles created by its reflection to describe the mechanical behavior of fiber-reinforced composites submitted under compression test. Composites were tested in two set of arrays: the first was done with fibers orientated parallel to the load and the second was done with fibers randomly orientated, as it is known that the stress-strain evolution change according to the orientation of the fibers. Our method allows us to evaluate the heterogeneous strain evolution observed during the tests. Validity of optical strain-measurements is assessed against the results of an universal testing machine, a good correlation was found by comparing the results.