Computer application in failure analysis of carbon/epoxy composite loops

the paper presents a failure analysis method of carbon/epoxy composite loops with the assistance of computer. The composite loops wrapped around metal pins form a kind of mechanically-fastened joint by filament winding technique. As are well known, mechanically-fastened joints under tensile loads generally fail in three basic modes, referred to as net-tension mode, shear out mode, and bearing mode. Among them, the bearing mode is an ideal failure mode. Through the failure analysis, the main failure mode of the joint of carbon/epoxy composite loops wrapped around metal pins mainly is the bearing mode. The failure load and the failure mode of the joint were analyzed numerically and experimentally. Hashin failure criteria were used in the failure analysis. Experiments of composite loops proved that the main failure mode of loops was bearing and delamination which were coincident with the numerical analysis.