Abstract:
In order to investigate the mechanical response and failure behavior of Kevlar 49 aramid fabric reinforced epoxy polymers under the coupling effect of medium strain rates and different temperatures, MTS high rate servo-hydraulic testing machine was utilized to conduct the unidirectional dynamic tensile tests of aramid fiber reinforced polymers (AFRP) under different initial strain rates (25, 50, 100, 200 s
-1) and temperatures (-25, 0, 25, 50, 100℃) firstly. Then, Weibull analysis model was used to quantify the variability degree of tensile strength under different strain rates and temperatures. The results show that under the same temperature (25℃), with the increasing strain rate, elastic modulus and tensile strength both increase firstly (when initial strain rate is in the range of 25-50 s
-1) and then decrease (when initial strain rate is in the range of 50-200 s
-1), while the ultimate strain presents an opposite changing trend, and the changing extent of toughness with strain rate is not obvious. Under the same initial strain rate (25 s
-1) and comparing with the situation under 25℃, the temperature increasing or decreasing will leads to the decrease of elastic modulus, and the ultimate strain increases significantly when the temperature is 100℃, while tensile strength and toughness both change little with the variation of temperature. The comparison and analysis for failure morphologies of AFRP show that the failure patterns of AFRP under different test conditions are almost the same, which present relatively smooth failure surfaces. The conclusions obtained can provide references for the theoretical investigation and application of AFRP under the effects of extreme loading and environment.