Fatigue testing of composite materials is becoming increasingly important as they find use in a wider range of critical structural applications with the expectation of long service life. It is now widely recognized that these materials do accumulate damage over long periods of cyclic loading, even if the failure mode and mechanisms are radically different to conventional metallic fatigue. One of the challenges, when performing fatigue tests on polymer composites, is to produce a good S-N curve in the shortest possible time without subjecting any specimens to excessive temperature generated by self-heating. Traditionally, the test frequency has to be set to a conservatively low value in order to ensure that overheating does not occur.
In response to this, a new feature in WaveMatrix™ Software continuously monitors the specimen temperature and automatically adjusts the test frequency to minimize the test time and ensure that the specimen is never subject to an excessive temperature rise.
Read Dr. Peter Bailey’s interview with AZOM where he discusses this exciting new development.
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