Fatigue Damage Assessment and Lifetime Prediction of Short Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites—A Review

Abstract

This paper reviews the findings in the area of fatigue damage assessment and lifetime prediction of short fiber reinforced polymer composites (SFRPs) under cyclic loading. It is shown that the direct methods of microstructure/damage inspection are the most sensitive and informative, while micro-computed tomography (μ-CT) is more laborious and possesses limitations in sample dimensions. Although the sensitivity of the indirect methods can vary, the most common one is based on stiffness reduction. It is shown that developing models of fatigue processes is impossible without assessing the degree of damage. The latter can be determined by stiffness reduction, the development of creep, or energy dissipation. Since fatigue mechanisms can differ, the most complete information can be obtained by combining these methods. The prediction results for fatigue life models based on plastic strain development showed the greatest agreement with the experimental results in comparison with other prediction models. In addition, some tasks are highlighted as the priority directions for the development of SFRPs and non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for their monitoring under fatigue.