Composites Part A 28A (1997) 595-604

0 1997 Elsevier Science Limited

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PII: S1359-835X(96)00154-6
ELSEVIER

Mechanical properties and failure behaviour

of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer
composites under the influence of moisture

R. Selzer and K. Friedrich”

Institute for Composite Materials Ltd, University of Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern,
Germany
(Received 29 February 1996; revised 12 November 1996)

The effect of moisture on the mechanical properties and the failure behaviour of fibre-reinforced polymer
composites was investigated. Moisture was introduced into the specimens by immersion in distilled water.
Three materials were investigated, which were all reinforced with continuous carbon fibres. Two thermo-
setting matrices (unmodified and toughness-modified epoxy) and one thermoplastic matrix (polyether-
etherketone) were used. The results showed that the absorbed moisture decreases those properties of
both epoxy-based composites which were dominated by the matrix or the interface. The influence of
water on the fibre-dominated values, as well as on the properties of the thermoplastic material, was not
detectable. The distinct fall of the matrix- and interface-based values due to moisture can be ascribed to the
weakening of bonding between fibre and matrix and softening of the matrix material. 0 1997 Elsevier
Science Limited

(Keywords: mechanical properties;failure behaviour;carbon fibre-reinforcedpolymer composites; moisture)

INTRODUCTION Several investigations in the open literature verify that

Composite materials in practical use can be subject to a
wide variety of different loading conditions. The most
important conditions are mechanical stresses and environ-
mental attacks. To utilize the full potential of composite
materials, their behaviour under various conditions has
to be determined. The main environmental attacks are
related to temperature, moisture, radiation and/or contact
with various types of chemicals’. These factors can affect
the thermal and mechanical properties of the composites
in different ways2>3. In particular, the effect of water must
always be taken into account, because moisture is always
present due to the humidity of the atmosphere.
Mechanical stresses occur during different types of
loading, such as tension, compression, and fatigue in
structural components. An issue of major concern in the
utilization of composites is associated with the occur-
rence of delaminations or interlaminar cracks, which
may be related to manufacturing defects or induced in
service by low velocity impact.
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence
of water absorption on the mechanical properties and
failure behaviour of carbon fibre-reinforced polymers.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed
moisture influences the properties of reinforced poly-
mers, but such studies only look at some basic mechanical
properties. There is no publication which discusses the
influence of moisture on carbon fibre-reinforced polymer
composites in a very detailed way. The data generated in
this investigation could be used as a guideline for the
design of components from these materials under the
influence of moisture.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Materials
Thermosetting and thermoplastic polymers have been
used as matrix systems in advanced composites. To cover
the whole spectrum of matrix materials and the wide
range of toughness involved, two epoxy resins as well as
one thermoplastic were investigated (Table 2 ).
The first matrix, denoted here by EP, was a first
generation epoxy, with a brittle fracture behaviour. The
second one was a modified epoxy with a higher strain to
failure and a higher fracture toughness (EP,&. For
comparison, tests were done with carbon fibre-reinforced
polyetheretherketone (PEEK). As a special feature the
laminates of this carbon fibre-reinforced PEEK were

595
Moisture and mechanical properties: R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

Table 1 Properties of matrices used>*

Name and supplier Type P (g cm-3 ) E (GPa) c (MPa) E (%) GIcResin (J mm2 1

5208, BASF Thermoset 1.27 4.24 65 1.8 54

5212, BASF Thermoset 1.23 3.35 80 3.3 238
Victrex, ICI Semicrystalline 1.32 (crystalline) 4.10 100 4.9 (yielding) 3072
thermoplastic 1.26 (amorphous) 50 (fracture)

Table 2 Pronerties of fibres used9”’

Name and supplier Type Diameter (pm) P (g cmm3) E (GPa) 0 (MPa) E (%)

G30-500, Celion HT fibre 7 1.78 234 3800 1.6

AS4, Herkules HT fibre 7 1.79 231 4000 1.6

manufactured out of hybrid yarn. The polyetherether- to co01 for a short period of time before being weighed.
ketone used in this study had a crystallinity of -28%. In the case of specimens with moisture, the surfaces were
All panels made out of this material had the same carefully wiped before weighing. The weight gain process
crystallinity. This fact was very important for the was continued until saturation of the materials. The
mechanical tests, because the crystallinity of a material weight was measured with an analytical balance, and the
has a significant influence on the properties and cannot weight gain was calculated according to the following
be neglected4. equation:
Due to the fact that the properties of the fibres were Moisture content
rather similar (Table 2), the same term, CF, was used to
denote all fibre types in this paper. Information about weight of specimen - weight of dry specimen
=
fibre treatment for improved fibre-matrix adhesion was weight of dry specimen
not available. The average fibre volume fraction was xl00 [%] (1)
60% by volume, with a standard deviation of 1% for all
The weight gains, maximum moisture contents and
material systems studied. Both epoxy resins were rein-
diffusivities of such materials during immersion in dis-
forced with carbon fibre G30-500, and the thermoplastic
tilled water were reported and discussed in a previous
with AS4 fibre, respectively.
publication13.
All test specimens were cut from unidirectional
([0]16,[90]&, bidirectional ([0, 9014,) and/or multidirec-
tional ([0, f 45,90],,) panels which were manufactured Test procedures
out of 16 prepreg plies and cured in an autoclave
The tensile, compression, fatigue and compression-
according to the recommendations of the manufacturers.
after-impact tests were performed according to the
For the specimens used for investigation of the inter-
standards listed in Table 3. For the mode I and mode
laminar fracture properties, a foil was placed at the mid-
II tests the double cantilever beam (DCB) and the end-
thickness of the laminate. This foil prevented adhesion
notched flexure (ENF) test configurations were used. A
between the two prepreg layers and had the same effect as
detailed description of specimen geometry, test pro-
a delamination.
cedures and data reduction is given in ref. 14.
After various periods of time the specimens were
taken out of the baths and subjected to the mechanical
Conditioning
tests. The tests were performed at room temperature in a
Dry and moisturized specimens were used in this laboratory air environment. The amount of moisture
investigation. All specimens were preconditioned in an desorbed during the span of testing was found to be
oven at 77°C until their weight loss had stabilized, and negligible. The specimens were tested in three different
no further weight loss could be observed. This condition states: dry, half-saturated and fully saturated.
of the specimens was referred to as dry. After pre-
conditioning, the specimens labelled dry were stored in a
dessicator and those labelled as wet were placed in Table 3 Tests, standards and recorded properties
containers of distilled water at three different tempera-
Test Standard Value
tures: 23, 70 and 100°C. Immersing samples in water is
the worst possible moisture attack. Resting the speci- Tensile DIN 29971 Strength, modulus, elongation
mens in humid air results in a lower maximum moisture Compression DIN 65380 Strength, modulus
Fatigue DIN 50100 Fatigue strength
content’1Y12. Specimens were removed from the contain- Compression after DIN 65561 Damage resistance
ers at various time intervals for weight measurements. impact Damage tolerance
The effect of this removal on weight gain determination Mode I EGF Energy release rate, GI,
Mode II EGF Energy release rate, Gnc
had been shown to be negligible. Specimens were allowed

596
 Moisture and mechanical properties: R. Selzer and K. Friedrich

Microscopic studies superglue was sufficient (Uhu, Sekundenkleber). But for

the unidirectional [O],, laminates a special and very
All specimens tested were examined visually and with
expensive DMS adhesive (HBM 270, Schnellkleber) was
the aid of optical microscopes. Cracks, delaminations
used, which had a curing time of -15 min. During this
and other failure mechanisms which occurred during
period of time no moisture desorption was measured.
testing were recorded and plotted in failure maps.

Tensile tests
RESULTS
To characterize the material behaviour under tension
Glass transition temperature the strength, modulus and elongation were recorded
during testing. In the diagrams that follow the results are
The range of use of composite materials with a
shown versus the relative moisture content, which was
polymeric matrix is limited by their thermal and
defined as absolute moisture content Am [calculated
mechanical properties. Polymer composites used above
according to equation (l)] in relation to the maximum
their glass transition temperature Tg show a substantial
moisture content A mmax. So 0 means dry, 0.5, half-
loss in desired physical properties; therefore a material’s
saturation, and 1 stands for fully saturated.
glass transition temperature and its change with moisture
It appeared from Figure 1 that the tensile strength was
absorption must be investigated. In this case Tg was
not affected by the moisture for specimens with a fibre
measured as the maximum damping in the damping
orientation in the direction of the load. The variation of
versus temperature diagram. The results are presented in
the mean values was smaller than the scatter. So the
Table 4.
influence of moisture for this fibre orientation was
Due to moisture absorption the glass transition
negligible. Due to the fact that the properties of the
temperature of the resin became low, which in turn
carbon fibres were equal, the results for the 0” tensile
degraded the high temperature properties of the resins.
tests of the different composites were similar.
Nevertheless, Tg did not go below the maximum water
Specimens with a fibre orientation perpendicular to
temperature of 100°C. The glass transition temperature
of CFjPEEK was not affected by the absorbed water.
One reason for this behaviour could be the fact that CF/
3ooo
PEEK absorbed only 0.3 wt% moisture (cf. CF/EP,
1.6wt% and CF/EPmod, 2.5wt%). 2500
z
z
Testing problems 2000
S
In order to protect specimens from damage during F 1500
clamping in the testing jig and to obtain a symmetrical g
UJ
stress distribution in the samples without any stress Q)
.G 1000 I I
peaks, tabs were bonded on the specimen surface. One e - - q CF/EP
problem was that it was not possible to glue the tabs on c” 500 ---muo CFlEPmod -
to the specimens before immersing them, because the 1
I
I
I
I
I
)-A
I
CF/PEEK 1 1
1 I
quality of the glue interface between the tab and speci- 01 . 1 , 1 . I . I I
men decreased as a consequence of moisture attack; this 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
caused layer failure before the specimen maximum load Relative Moisture Content

was reached. Therefore, it was necessary to bond the tabs Figure 1 Tensile strength of 0” laminates

on to the specimens after resting in water.

Many adhesives require a long cure time and/or a high
100
temperature to reach their maximum strength. Both
procedures lead to inadmissible drying of the specimens.
To fix the tabs on the specimens without moisture
desorption of the samples, a special kind of glue was
needed: instant superglue. For testing laminates with
stacking sequences of [90116and [0, 901dsa normal instant

Table 4 Influence of moisture on glass transition temperature of

materials tested

Material 7’s, dry condition (“C) rs, wet condition (“C) 0

CF/EP 258 220 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 1.0
CF/EP,,, 197 120 Relative Moisture Content
CFjPEEK 169 169
Figure 2 Tensile strength of 90” laminates

597
Moisture and mechanical properties: R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.0 1.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Relative Moisture Content
Relative Moisture Content
Figure 3 Tensile modulus of 0” laminates Figure 5 Elongation of 0” laminates

290

1-5
10
z
‘=
6 l,o
CR
E
5 0
iii 0,5

01 J I . J 050
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Relative Moisture Content Relative Moisture Content
Figure 4 Tensile modulus of 90” laminates Figure 6 Elongation of 90” laminates

the load direction showed different behaviour (Figure 2).
The more the specimens took up moisture, the more the
mean values of fracture strength decreased. The data
show a reduction of 52 and 66% in strength for the
saturated condition compared to the dry condition for
CF/EP and CF/EP,,d, respectively. It was indicated by
these results that the more the tensile strength values
depend on the matrix and the interface, the stronger the
influence of moisture absorption was.
Figures 3 and 4 showed that the curves of the tensile
moduli had the same trends as those of the tensile
strength. The decrease of the 90” tension modulus was a
result of softening of the epoxy matrices due to moisture
absorption, because the modulus was calculated from a
range of the strength-elongation curve where no fracture
occurred.
The elongation values of the 90” laminates showed a
decrease with increasing moisture content. The reason
for this behaviour was not the softening of the epoxy
matrices, but weakening of the fibre-matrix interface.
Softening of the resins with increasing moisture content
would lead to higher elongations.
It was mentioned above that the specimens were
conditioned at three different temperatures. Neverthe-
less, it was not possible to detect an influence of the
temperatures used on the mechanical properties. This is
due to the fact that Tg did not go below the maximum
water temperature of 100°C.
Compression tests
To examine the influence of the stacking sequence,
tests were conducted for each material combination with
unidirectional laminates loaded in the fibre direction [0]
as well as in the direction transverse [90] to the fibres. The
results of the compression tests are shown in Figures
7-10.
Figure 7 showed that the strength of 0” epoxy-based
laminates was affected by the absorbed water. The
moisture reduced the compressive strength of the two
epoxy composites; -23 and 35% for CF/EP and CF/
respectively. For laminates with a [90] lay-up
~!$$L 8) the reduction was greater; 30% for CF/EP and
37% for CF/EP,,d. It was indicated by these results that
the more the compressive strength depends on the
matrix, the stronger the influence of moisture absorption
was.
It appeared from Figure 9 that the stiffness was not
affected by the moisture for specimens with a fibre orien-
tation in the loading direction. As the variation of the

598
 Moisture and mechanical properties: R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

_ ,CI CF/EP
500 H..... o CF/EPmod 1-1
j-A CF/PEEK
0 I ,
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Relative Moisture Content Relative Moisture Content
Figure 7 Compression strength of 0” laminates Figure 10 Compression modulus of 90” laminates

. 1 . . . ]
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.0 1.0
Relative Moisture Content
Figure 11 Fatigue behaviour of dry materials, lay-up [0,+45,90]2s
Figure 8 Compression strength of 90” laminates

150
compression tests performed on carbon fibre-reinforced
polyetheretherketone, no moisture effects on stiffness
and strength of the laminates were detected. This could
100
be explained by the low maximum moisture content of
the PEEK matrix, and the excellent hot/wet properties of
this matrix material.

50
Fatigue tests

---mmo CF/EPmod
-A CF/PEEK
0 I1 and 12). The fatigue tests were carried out on a
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6
Relative Moisture Content
Figure 9 Compression modulus of 0” laminates
mean values was smaller than the scatter, the influence of
moisture for this fibre orientation was negligible. Speci-
mens with a fibre orientation perpendicular to the load
direction and an epoxy matrix showed different behav-
iour (Figure ZO). The more the specimens took up
moisture, the more the stiffness decreased. The data
showed a reduction of 42 and 36% in stiffness for the
saturated condition when compared to the dry condition,
for CF/EP and CF/EP,,d, respectively. Regarding the
The fatigue behaviour of the materials in dry and wet
conditions were demonstrated in Wohler curves (Figures
0.0 1.0
Schenck servohydraulic testing machine with a force
capacity in the range of l-250 kN. The ratio R between
minimum and maximum dynamic load was chosen as
R = 0.1, while the frequency was 10 Hz. The fatigue-
tested specimens that did not fail within the maximum of
2 x lo6 cycles are shown by arrows.
The courses of the Wijhler curves were very flat. This
fact was a result of the good fatigue behaviour of carbon
fibres. Because this type of fibre does not fatigue, the
effect of moisture on carbon fibre-reinforced polymers
with high fibre contents is negligible15. Another result of
this investigation was that the curves for polymer
composites do not flatten out like the curves for steel,

599
Moisture and mechanical properties: R. Selzer and K. Friedrich
lo4 lo5
Cycles
Figure 12 Fatigue behaviour of fully saturated materials, lay-up
LO,54% 9%
2m-
1500
1000
0 6
Figure 13 Damaged areas after impacts with varying energies
because polymers do not show a strengthening effect
during the fatigue test. The moisture absorbed resulted in
a decrease of the numbers of cycles to failure for both
epoxy-based composites. A reduction of 15% for CF/
EP,,d and 7% for CF/EP was found. The influence of
moisture on CF/PEEK was negligible.
Compression after impact
The principle of this method is to subject a laminate,
here [0, 9014,,to impacts of varying energy, then measure
the area of the local failure with an ultrasonic device. The
smaller the area of delamination, the higher the resis-
tance of the system against damage was (damage
resistance). Then the laminates were tested under com-
pression in a special testing jig. The maximum compres-
sion strength of the specimens was measured and
considered in relation to the damaged area. The higher
the failure strength of the specimens with damage was,
the higher the tolerance of the system against delami-
nations or cracks was (damage tolerance).
The results of the tests showed:
l higher impact energies led to larger damage areas
(Figure 13);
600
l CF/PEEK was not affected by moisture;
l the CF/epoxies had larger damage areas when moi-
sture was absorbed;
l the measurements of the damage areas showed a large
scatter.
Figure 13 demonstrates that CFjPEEK was the
system with the highest damage resistance, followed by
CF/EP,,d. CF/EP, as a very brittle system, had the
lowest damage resistance of the three materials com-
pared. Wet laminates behaved in the same manner.
The results of the compression tests on specimens with
damage can be concluded as follows. The compression
strength values of the wet CF/epoxies were lower than
those of the dry ones (Figures 14 and 15). Undamaged
wet specimens of CF/EP showed values which were 17%
lower than for dry samples. For CF/EPmod this effect
was in the same range (16%). Specimens which were
impacted with an energy of 6 Jmm-’ showed larger
differences (CF/EP, 52% and CF/EP,,d, 26%).
The difference between dry and wet specimens cannot
be explained purely by the larger damage area due to the
moisture absorbed. The main effect was the moisture
itself, because the undamaged specimens showed lower
01 I I
0 2 4 6
Impact Energy [J/mm]
Figure 14 Compression strength of CF/EP after impacts with varying
energies
4 6
0 2
impact Energy [J/mm]
Figure 15 Compression strength of CF/EP,d after impacts with
varying energies
 Moisture and mechanical properties: R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

values too. Water softened the matrix resins and so the

stiffness of the epoxies was reduced. As a result of this, it
was easier for the fibres to kink and the laminate failed at
lower stresses. The differences in compression strength
between dry and wet CFjPEEK specimens were negli-
gible (Figure 16).

Mode I fracture behaviour

During the testing procedure a strong difference

between the dry and wet specimens can be observed13. 0 100°C
The variations of the GIc values of CF/epoxy as a 0.0
function of moisture content and temperature are shown 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 1.0
in Figures 17 and 18. Mode I values of CF/EPmOd are Relative Moisture Content
much higher than those of CF/EP. However, the Figure 18 Results of mode I tests of CF/EP,,,d wsus moisture
toughness of CF/EP increased with increasing moisture content

content more than in the case of the modified epoxy. The

curves of the GIc values of the CF/EPmOd specimens
plotted against the moisture content exhibited unusual
behaviour. It can be seen that the half-saturated speci-
mens showed an 8% decrease in fracture toughness
values. This behaviour was explained and discussed in
ref. 13. The toughness values for the CF/EP increase with
increasing moisture over the entire range of saturation

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 1.0

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 19 Results of mode I tests of CF/PEEK versus moisture

content

(to a maximum increase of -64%, with a scatter of

6%). The temperature at which the specimens were
soaked was found to have no influence on the fracture
0 2 4 6 toughness.
Impact Energy [J/mm] Mode I tests carried out on CFjPEEK showed that
the properties of this material were neither affected by
Figure 16 Compression strength of CFjPEEK after impacts with
varying energies the moisture content nor by the temperature at which the
specimens were immersed (Figure 19). The Grc value for
CF/PEEK was always in the region of 1.8 kJ m-‘.

Mode II fracture behaviour

The mode II fracture toughnesses GIIc for the

materials tested is given in Figures 20-22 as a function
of moisture content. For the three materials, the GIIc
values decreased with increasing moisture content. The
decrease for the saturated specimens was about 15% on
average, compared to the values of the dry specimens, for
CF/EP,,d and 7% for CF/EP.
The decrease of the Gnc values was caused by two
effects. First, the fibre-matrix bonding became poor with
increasing moisture content. The effect can be observed
Relative Moisture Content in SEM photographs of dry and saturated specimens.
Figure 17 Results of mode I tests of CF/EP W~SUSmoisture content Fracture surfaces of dry specimens show extensive

601
Moisture and mechanical properties: R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

PEEK was not affected by moisture, which can be

explained by the low maximum moisture content of the
PEEK matrix.

DISCUSSION
Correlation between static andfatigue behaviour

On the one hand, the CFjPEEK composite had good

static properties, but on the other hand it showed lower
fatigue strength values than the epoxy-based composites.
I , I . I I
The discovery that a tough material shows lower fatigue
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 properties than expected from its static properties was
Relative Moisture Content also reported in refs 16 and 17. This effect can be
Figure 20 Results of mode II tests of CF/EP versus moisture content explained by the different failure behaviour of tough and
brittle materials. Brittle materials show a lot of delami-
nations and interlaminar cracking during fatigue. In CF/
PEEK there were almost no delaminations or cracks.
The failure of this material was determined by a local-
ization of failure. This means that in composites with a
very tough matrix and very good fibre-matrix adhesion,
multiple cracking, which absorbs a higher amount of
energy, is prevented, so that finally localized failure
“._

occurs at lower levels than expected.

Matrix properties and damage resistance

0.2 - w !!?C
h” 70°C The damage resistance expresses the ability of a
0 100°C
system to resist an impact and is a very important
0.0 I .
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
property of laminated composites. It is well known that
the damage resistance of a composite is dominated by the
Relative Moisture Content
matrix material. Therefore the following conclusions can
Figure 21 Results of mode II tests of CF/EP,,d versus moisture be drawn:
content
1) The higher the tensile strength of the matrix is, the
higher the damage resistance becomes. The tensile
strength increased from EP (65 MPa) and EP,,d
A
(80 MPa) to PEEK (100 MPa), and the damaged area
4
00 AP decreased in this order.
2) The higher the elongation at fracture of the matrix is,
the lower the impact damage becomes. The elonga-
tion values increased from EP (1.8%) and EP,,d
(3.3%) to PEEK (4.9%), and the damaged area
decreased in this order.
3) The higher the mode II fracture toughness is, the
higher the damage resistance of the composite. The
mode II fracture toughness increased from CF/EP
(0.40 kJmp2) and CF/EPmti (0.64kJme2) to CF/
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
PEEK (3.5 kJ m-‘), and the damaged area decreased
Relative Moisture Content
in this order.
Figure 22 Results of mode II tests of CFjPEEK versus moisture
content It can be concluded that the matrix properties have a
great influence on the damage resistance, but it was not
possible to find out which of these properties was the
hackling, whereas the saturated specimens show less dominant one.
hackling and a lot of bare fibres. The large zones of bare
fibres with few hackles point to the conclusion that the
CAI and interlaminar fracture
interfaces have failed and the fibres have moved without
deforming the matrix. Secondly, to create hackles, less In a simplified way, an impact test can locally result in
work was needed because the matrix has become soft multiple shear loading (Figure 2.3) of the specimen.
through moisture absorbtion. The GIIc value of CF/ Furthermore, compression tests with delaminated samples

602
 Moisture and mechanical properties: R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

2. Compression pression modulus of the carbon fibre-reinforced poly-

1. Impact
mers was lower.

Failure maps

To create failure maps a multidirectional lay-up was

tested under static and dynamic tension. The multi-
directional lay-up was used to generate all failure
mechanisms which can occur in and between layers of
different orientations. Due to the fact that in static
tension failure mechanisms occur just before cata-
strophic failure, failure maps were generated with the
Figure 23 Compression after impact test
results of the fatigue tests. From these maps the maxi-
mum load for safe design can be defined for components
under mechanical load and under the influence of
are very similar to mode I or mode II tests (Figure 23).
moisture.
Therefore, the investigation of correlations between the
One result of this investigation was that there are no
very expensive CA1 test and the much cheaper inter-
cracks or delaminations in CFjPEEK specimens before
laminar fracture mode I or mode II tests might be of
fracture. The failure maps for both CF/epoxies are
interest.
presented in Figures 24 and 25. Concluding the results of
A correlation between the interlaminar mode II
the maps, it can be pointed out that moisture reduced the
fracture toughness and the damaged area after impact
stress level of the first appearance of a particular failure
showed that the higher the toughness, the smaller the
mechanism. The greater the toughness of the matrix
damaged area was. For this reason, tough systems are
material was, the higher the level when the failure
better for components for which impact loadings are
expected.
Comparing the results of the mode I tests with those
of the residual strength, it was noticeable that the
residual strength decreased with increasing moisture Total Failure
content, whereas the mode I values exhibited an increase.
Furthermore, the residual strength of CF/EP was higher
than that of CF/EP,,d, although the mode I fracture Growth of Cracks and Delaminationa
3
toughness of CF/EPmod was higher. From the results of
these investigations, it was not possible to find a corre-
lation between mode I fracture toughness and residual
strength of a delaminated component.
The increase of the residual strength of the wet
materials was confirmed with the assumption that the Damage Free
residual strength depends on the mode II fracture tough-
c.
ness. The values were 400 J me2 for CF/EP, 640 J rnp2 for 0
CF/EPmod and 3500 J m-2 for CF/PEEK, respectively. Relative Moisture Content
But the results for the dry laminates contradicted this Figure 24 Failure map for material CF/EP
assumption. The residual strength of the dry CF/EPmod
laminates was lower than that for the rest of the dry CF/
EP laminates. A dependence between these properties
cannot therefore be confirmed.

Tensile and compression modulus

z
z
400.
Growth of Cracks and Delamlnations

5 300. Defaminations
In general the tensile and the compression moduli
F
of a material are almost equal, because both values are
;
measured in the linear-elastic range of the material. v)
Comparing the results of this investigation it could be J
S
observed that for all materials the compression modulus z loo- Damage Free
LL
was lower than the tensile modulus. The reason for this
behaviour was that the high stiffness of the carbon fibres
was fully transferred to the composite when the specimen
was loaded in tension. In the compression tests the fibres Relative Moisture Content
tended to kink or bend under load, so that the com- Figure 25 Failure map for material CFIEP,,,

603
Moisture and mechanical properties: R. Seizer and K. Friedrich
Boundaryof the Crack Development
Boundaryoi the Delamination
Development
Figure 26 Results of investigations of failure behaviour
mechanisms occurred. These statements are summarized
in the scheme shown in Figure 26.
CONCLUSIONS
This investigation deals with the effect of moisture on the
mechanical properties and the failure behaviour of
carbon fibre-reinforced polymer composites. Three com-
posite materials were investigated: two with thermo-
setting matrices (unmodified and toughness-modified
epoxy, EP and EP,,d) and one with a thermoplastic
matrix (polyetheretherketone, PEEK). Samples of these
materials were exposed to water in baths of different
temperatures. The properties of the epoxy-based com-
posites were influenced by the absorbed moisture only in
specimens in which fibres were orientated perpendicular
to the load direction. Examinations of the fracture sur-
faces of the carbon fibre/epoxy composites showed that
the moisture led to an increase in interface failure. The
epoxy matrix becomes softer with moisture absorption,
and the fibre-matrix adhesion poorer. The values for
CFjPEEK were not affected by moisture, which can be
explained by the low maximum moisture uptake of the
PEEK matrix.
The specimens were conditioned at three different
temperatures. It was found that the water temperature
had no influence on the mechanical properties of the
materials used. The reason for this behaviour is that the
glass transition temperature did not go below the maxi-
mum water temperature of 100°C.
Furthermore, this examination showed that the pro-
perties of the composites are not dependent on the
duration of exposure after the specimens were fully
saturated. The maximum duration of exposure was three
years in water at room temperature and more than one
year in boiling water. Nevertheless, it could be possible
that there are further changes in properties on extended
exposure.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the support in the field of
fractography from AGARD, Project G 75. Further
604
thanks are due to BASF, Ludwigshafen, for the supply
t of the testing materials. Additional travel grants from
BMBF International Buro for research collaboration on
t ‘environmental effects on properties of composites’ with
Professor Vu Khanh, Canada (Project No. 753) are grate-
fully acknowledged. Professor Friedrich finally thanks
the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie, Frankfurt, for sup-
port of his personal research activities in 1996.
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