Monitoring tensile-induced subsurface damages of Woven Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer using terahertz time-of-flight tomography

Zhai, M., Pan, H., Xiao, B., Shi, H., Qu, Z., He, W., Zhai, C., & Tang

Abstract

Woven Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composites were studied using terahertz time-of-flight tomography to characterize failure modes in GFRP composite in a nondestructive and contactless fashion during in-situ tensile testing. The fracture morphologies of GFRP composite under different applied stresses were discussed by comparing terahertz C-and B-scan images to evaluate the dynamic evolution of tensile-induced microstructure. Our results show that significant THz-detectable damage initiation was observed at stress levels exceeding 60 MPa. In addition, tensile-induced damage can be observed not only on the surface, but also within the inner piles of GFRP composites. Finally, our work verifies the effectiveness of THz-based approach on three-dimensional dynamic monitoring the quality of GFRP composite in service and evaluating the influence of different loading conditions on structural properties and failure pattern of composite materials.

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