A Comparison of Transverse Cracking Phenomena in (0/90)s and (90/0)s CFRP Laminates

Abstract

The development of 90° ply cracking in the surface plies of (90/0)s CFRP laminates from two material systems, HTA/F922 and HTA/F927, has been studied experimentally and the results compared with previous work on (0/90)s lay-ups from the same systems. The trends of the results are shown to be consistent with other published literature. The role of defects in crack initiation and the implications for using a fracture mechanics approach to model the observed behaviour are discussed.