JOURNAL OF

COMPOSITE
Article M AT E R I A L S
Journal of Composite Materials
2015, Vol. 49(2) 163–175
! The Author(s) 2013
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methodology for long-term life prediction DOI: 10.1177/0021998313515019
jcm.sagepub.com
of CFRP laminates

Masayuki Nakada and Yasushi Miyano

Abstract
An advanced accelerated testing methodology (ATM-2) for long-term life prediction of CFRP laminates exposed to actual
loading with a general stress and temperature history is proposed based on the conventional accelerated testing
methodology (ATM-1) established for the long-term life prediction of CFRP laminates exposed to stress and tempera-
ture. The most important condition for ATM-1 is that the time–temperature superposition principle held for the
viscoelastic behavior of matrix resin holds also for the static, creep, and fatigue strengths of CFRP laminates.
Furthermore, three conditions that form the basis of ATM-2 are introduced along with their scientific bases. The
long-term fatigue strength of CFRP laminates under an actual loading is formulated based on the three conditions.
The viscoelastic coefficients of matrix resin, which perform an important role for the time and temperature dependence
of long-term life of CFRP laminates, are also formulated based on the time–temperature superposition principle. The
applicability of ATM-2 is demonstrated by predicting the long-term fatigue strengths of four typical directions of unidir-
ectional CFRP laminates.

Keywords
Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics, life prediction, accelerated testing, time-temperature superposition principle

time–temperature superposition principle (TTSP)

Introduction
Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) are now being
used in primary structures of airplanes, ships, and other
vehicles and for applications that demand sustained
high reliability during long-term operations.
Therefore, an accelerated testing methodology must
be established for long-term life prediction of CFRP
structures exposed to actual environments with expos-
ure to extreme temperatures, water, and other poten-
tially destructive phenomena.
A strategy for accelerated testing is shown as the
following steps: (1) data collection by accelerated test-
ing, (2) durability design, and (3) development of highly
reliable structures. First, an accelerated testing method-
ology should be established for polymer composites.
Our developed methodology will be generic and will
be applicable to centrifuges, generators, flywheels, air-
craft, wind turbines, marine, automobiles, and so on.
Previously, we developed a conventional accelerated
testing methodology (ATM-1) to predict the long-
term fatigue life of CFRP laminates based on the
applied to the viscoelastic behavior of matrix resin.
ATM-1 enables us to describe the long-term life using
master curves covering wide ranges of loading and
environmental conditions, including load duration,
temperature, frequency of load cycles, load amplitudes,
and so on.1–5 Furthermore, we have proposed a method
of formulating master curves based on the simple equa-
tion as functions of time to failure, temperature, load-
ing frequency, and number of cycles to failure.6
However, this equation has not directly taken into
account the viscoelastic coefficients of matrix resin.
Therefore, the equation cannot be applied to the life
Materials System Research Laboratory, Kanazawa Institute of Technology,
Japan
Corresponding author:
Masayuki Nakada, Materials System Research Laboratory, Kanazawa
Institute of Technology, 3-1 Yatsukaho, Hakusan, Ishikawa 924-0838,
Japan.
Email: nakada@neptune.kanazawa-it.ac.jp

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164 Journal of Composite Materials 49(2)

prediction of CFRP laminates exposed to an actual Therein, t0 is time for a strain "0 at temperature T0, and
load and temperature history. ti is time for the same strain "0 at temperature Ti.
In this paper, we propose an advanced accelerated Figure 2 shows the time- and temperature-
testing methodology (ATM-2) that is applicable to the dependence of static, creep, and fatigue strengths of
life prediction of CFRP laminates exposed to an actual CFRP laminates for three loading patterns of a con-
load and environment history by taking into account stant strain rate (static), a constant stress, and a cyclic
the viscoelastic coefficients of matrix resin. The most stress. When the same TTSP for viscoelastic behavior
important point about ATM-2 is the fact that the of matrix resin holds for the static, creep, and fatigue
same TTSP that holds for the viscoelastic behavior of
matrix resin holds for the static, creep, and fatigue
strengths of CFRP laminates. Furthermore, three con-
ditions are added with the scientific bases in ATM-2.
The long-term fatigue strength of CFRP laminates
under actual loading is formulated based on these con-
ditions. The viscoelastic coefficients of matrix resin,
which perform an important role for the time and tem-
perature dependence of long-term life of CFRP lamin-
ates, are also formulated based on TTSP. The
applicability of ATM-2 is demonstrated by predicting
the long-term fatigue strengths of four typical direc-
tions of unidirectional CFRP laminates.

Time–temperature superposition
principle
Thermosetting resins used as the matrix for CFRP
laminates are amorphous and show linear viscoelastic
behavior that is time- and temperature-dependent
mechanical behavior, not only in the region above the
glass transition temperature Tg but also in the region
below Tg. For instance, the viscoelastic materials show
strain response for the input of step stress shown in
Figure 1. The strain increases concomitantly with
increasing time and increases with temperature. When
the TTSP holds for viscoelastic behavior, the time-
temperature shift factor aTo(Ti) is definable by the fol-
lowing equation.

ti
aT0 ðTi Þ ¼ ð1Þ
t0 Figure 2. Time- and temperature-dependent strength.
(a) Static load, (b) creep load, and (c) cyclic load.

Figure 1. Viscoelastic behavior of amorphous resin. (a) Stress input and (b) strain response.

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Nakada and Miyano 165

strengths of CFRP laminates, aTo(Ti) for these

strengths can be expressed as

ti tsi tci tfi

aT0 ðTi Þ ¼ ¼ ¼ ¼ ð2Þ
t0 ts0 tc0 tf0

where ts0, tc0, and tf0 are the times to failure of CFRP
laminates by three loading patterns at temperature T0,
and tsi, tci, and tfi are the times to failure at
temperature Ti. The subscripts s, c, and f, respectively,
denote the static, creep, and fatigue. We have demon-
strated experimentally and theoretically in our previous
works6 that the strength of PAN-based CFRP lamin-
ates meets the same TTSP for the viscoelastic behavior
Figure 3. Master curve of creep compliance against the
of matrix resin irrespective of the structural configur-
reduced time at a reference temperature of matrix resin.
ation and loading style.

Advanced accelerated testing

methodology
ATM-2 is established with the following three condi-
tions: (a) the failure probability of CFRP laminates is
independent of time, temperature, and load history; (b)
the time and temperature dependence of strength of
CFRP laminates is controlled by the viscoelasticity of
matrix resin and therefore, the same TTSP for the
viscoelasticity of matrix resin holds for the strength of
CFRP laminates; (c) the slope of S–N curve is deter-
mined by maximum stress and stress ratio. It is inde-
pendent of time, temperature, and frequency.
Based on the three conditions (a), (b), and (c), the
long-term strength  f of CFRP laminates is proposed
by the following equation as a simple approach.

f ¼ 0 fA fB fC or log f ¼ log 0 þ log fA þ log fB þ log fC

ð3Þ

in which  0 and fA are the static strength and its scatter

determined by the failure probability Pf at room tem-
perature which is determined by the types of fiber and
Figure 4. Master curves of static and fatigue strengths against
weave, volume fraction of fiber, load direction, and
reduced failure time at a reference temperature of CFRP lamin-
other factors; fB is the strength variation attributable ates. (a) Case of constant frequency and (b) case of constant
to the viscoelasticity of matrix resin D*; and fC is the number of cycles to failure.
strength degradation determined by the stress range

and number of cycles to failure Nf. parameters fA, fB, and fC are explained in the following
The master curves of static and fatigue strengths of three sections.
CFRP laminates as well as the creep compliance are
obtainable against the reduced time t0 at a reference Failure probability independent of time,
temperature T0 based on TTSP. Figure 3 shows the
master curve of creep compliance Dc against the
temperature, and load history
reduced load time t0 at reference temperature T0 con- Strength  f can be shown generally by the following
structed by shifting Dc at various temperatures Ti. equation with a Weibull distribution
Figure 4 shows the master curves of static and fatigue
strengths against the reduced failure time t0 at a refer- 1
f ðPf Þ ¼ 0 ½ lnð1  Pf Þ , ð4Þ
ence temperature T0 of CFRP laminates. The three

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166 Journal of Composite Materials 49(2)

where  0 is a scale parameter, a is a shape parameter, In that equation, t0 is defined as shown below
and Pf is the failure probability.
Z
Christensen and Miyano7 found theoretically and 0
t
d
t ¼ :
experimentally that  is independent of time and tem- 0 aT0 ðTð ÞÞ
perature, as shown in Figure 4. From equation (4), the
static strength  0 and the scatter of static strength fA Therefore, the viscoelastic coefficient D* is the func-
are expressed as follows tion of stress history () and temperature
  history T().9
0 ¼ f t00 , T0 ð5Þ
"  # Strength degradation caused by cyclic loading
f Pf , t00 , T0 1
log fA ¼ log   ¼ log½ lnð1  Pf Þ ð6Þ We propose here the strength degradation of CFRP
f t00 , T0 
laminates based on the linear cumulative damage rule
that is well-known as the Miner’s rule. It is presumed
where  f(Pf, t00 , T0) and  f(t00 , T0) at reference reduced that the slope of S–N curve is determined by the stress
time to failure t00 and reference temperature T0 are the ratio and that it is independent of time, temperature,
scattered static strength to be the function of failure and frequency.
probability Pf and the scale parameter of static Based on this simple assumption, the S–N curve of
strength. The reference reduced time to failure and ref- CFRP laminates is formulated as the equation pre-
erence temperature can usually be chosen at t00 ¼ 1 min sented as follow
and T0 ¼ 25 C.  
ð1  RÞ Nf
log f ðNf Þ ¼ log f ðN0 Þ  nf log ð9Þ
Time and temperature dependence of strength 2 N0
controlled by the viscoelasticity of matrix resin Therein, N0 is simply 1/2,  f(N0) denotes the strength
We proposed the formulation to predict the long-term under monotonic loading, Nf and R, respectively,
strength of CFRP laminates as an ATM-1.6 The visco- denote the number of cycles to failure and the stress
elastic behavior of matrix resin was just fitted by two ratio, and nf is a material parameter.
tangential lines, and then the fitting parameters were The strength degradation of CFRP caused by cyclic
simply applied to the strength deviation of CFRP loading is described in Figure 5(a) and is formulated as
laminates by time and temperature.  
In our previous paper,8 we found that the time and f ðNf Þ
log fC ¼ log
temperature dependence of static strengths in the lon- f ðN0 Þ
gitudinal tension, bending, and transverse bending for  
ð1  R Þ Nf
unidirectional CFRP against the inverse of viscoelastic ¼ nf log þ nf logð1  kD Þ, ð10Þ
2 N0
coefficient of matrix resin 1/D* are determined
uniquely. Each of these slopes is constant. Based on where kD and nf*, respectively, represent the accumu-
the fact, the strength of CFRP laminates  f is indicated lation index of damage and the material parameter.
by the power function of viscoelastic coefficient of The accumulation index of damage kD is defined by
matrix resin D* as expressed by the following equation based on the Miner’s rule.
" # " #
f ðPf ,t0 ,T0 Þ D ðt0 ,T0 Þ Xn
ni
log fB ¼ log   ¼ nr log   , ð7Þ kD ¼ 5 1: ð11Þ
f Pf , t00 , T0 Dc t00 ,T0 i¼1
N fi

In that equation, ni and Nfi, respectively, stand for the

where nr is the parameter determined by the failure number of cycles and the number of cycles to failure at
mode, which is independent of time and temperature, the loading of step i shown in Figure 5(b). For virgin
and Dc is the creep compliance of the matrix resin. The materials, kD ¼ 0 and nf ¼ 0. kD increases with increase
viscoelastic coefficient D* and the reduced time t0 are in the number of load cycle and then the residual
expressed respectively by the following equations based strength decreases.
on the theory of linear viscoelasticity.
R t0 0 Formulation based on ATM-2
 0 "ðt0 , T0 Þ 0 Dc ðt0   0 , T0 Þ ddð0 Þ d 0
D ðt , T0 Þ ¼ ¼ ð8Þ The long-term strength under an actual loading history
 ðt0 , T0 Þ  ðt0 , T0 Þ
of stress () and temperature T() for CFRP laminates

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Nakada and Miyano 167

can be expressed by the following equation based on The determination of material parameters in the for-
the previous three sections. mulation for ATM-2 should be done by determining
the parameters of aTo and Dc of matrix resin as the
  1 first step and determining the parameters of  0, , nr
log f ¼ log 0 t00 , T0 þ log½ lnð1  Pf Þ
"  # and nf of CFRP laminates as the second step shown in
 0
D ðt , T0 Þ ð1  RÞ Figure 6. First, the viscoelastic test for matrix resin is
 nr log    nf logð2Nf Þ conducted at various temperatures. The master curve of
Dc t00 , T0 2
creep compliance Dc is constructed using measured
þ nf logð1  kD Þ ð12Þ data based on TTSP and the time-temperature shift
factor aTo is determined. Second, the master curve of
static strength is constructed using the static strengths
measured at various temperatures for CFRP laminates
and the time-temperature shift factor aTo of matrix
resin. The master curve of creep strength is determined
from the master curve of static strength using equation
(12). The master curve of fatigue strength is con-
structed using the fatigue strengths measured at various
temperatures for CFRP laminates and the time-
temperature shift factor aTo of matrix resin.
The parameters of  0, a, nr, and nf of CFRP laminates
are determined from these master curves.

Formulation for master curve of creep compliance

Figure 5. Strength degradation of CFRP laminates by cyclic
loading. (a) S–N curve and (b) typical cyclic load pattern.
and shift factors for matrix resin
The most important procedure for ATM-2 is the reli-
able formulation for the master curve of creep compli-
ance and shift factors for matrix resin. Figure 7 shows
the formulation procedure. First, the smooth master
curve of creep compliance of matrix resin shown on
the right side of Figure 7(a) is obtainable by shifting
the creep compliances measured at various tempera-
tures vertically as well as horizontally. The slightly ver-
tical shift should be done to obtain the reliable
horizontal shift factor to be the rate of acceleration,
which is the most important parameter for long-term
life prediction.10

Figure 6. Formulation procedure based on ATM-2.

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168 Journal of Composite Materials 49(2)

Figure 7. Formulation for master curve of creep compliance and shift factors for matrix resin. (a) Master curve of creep compliance
of the matrix resin, (b) time–temperature shift factor, and (c) temperature shift factor.

The master curve of creep compliance Dc can be Therein, G is the gas constant, 8.314  103 [kJ/
formulated as (Kmol)],
H1 and
H2, respectively, represent the
"  !mr # activation energies below and above the glass transi-
  t0 mg t0 tion temperature Tg, and H is the Heaviside step
log Dc ¼ log Dc, 0 t00 , T0 þ log þ 0 , function. The temperature shift factors, bTo(T),
t00 tg
which are the amount of vertical shift below and
ð13Þ above Tg, are represented by straight lines for general
purpose epoxy resin.11 However, we found that the
where Dc,0 stands for the creep compliance at reference bTo(T) below Tg for heat resistant epoxy resin cannot
time t00 and reference temperature T0, and t0g signifies be expressed by straight line as shown in Figure 7(c).
the glassy reduced time on T0, and mg and mr, respect- Therefore, we employed fourth-order polynomial
ively, denote the gradients in glassy and rubbery function as
regions of Dc master curve.
The time-temperature shift factor aTo(T), which is " #
X
4  
the horizontal shift amount shown in Figure 7(b), can j
log bT0 ðTÞ ¼ bn ðT  T0 Þ H Tg  T
be formulated as the following equation.11 j¼0
" #
  X4  j Tg

H1 1 1   þ bn Tg  T0 þ log
log aT0 ðTÞ ¼  H Tg  T T
2:303G T T0 j¼0
        

H1 1 1
H2 1 1  1  H Tg  T ð15Þ
þ  þ 
2:303G Tg T0 2:303G T Tg
  
 1  H Tg  T ð14Þ where b is the fitting parameter.
j

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Nakada and Miyano
Figure 8. Master curve and shift factors for storage modulus in the transverse direction of unidirectional CFRP laminates. (a) Master
curve of storage modulus and (b) time–temperature shift factor and temperature shift factor.
Experiments
Specimens and test methods
The test specimens were fabricated from unidirectional
CFRP laminates of MR60H/1053, which consists of
MR60H carbon fiber and epoxy resin 1053. All lamin-
ates were produced using the autoclave technique. The
curing procedure includes heating at 180 C for 2 h and
then postcuring at 160 C for 70 h. The volume fraction
of fiber is approximately 0.55. The laminates were cut
to the specific size for the tests using a diamond-grit
wheel.
The dynamic viscoelastic tests were performed for
various frequencies and temperatures for the transverse
direction of unidirectional CFRP laminates. The
master curve of creep compliance and the time-tem-
perature shift factor for matrix resin can be obtained
indirectly from data obtained from these dynamic
viscoelastic tests.
Static and fatigue tests under various temperatures
were conducted for four typical directions of unidirec-
tional CFRP laminates. The four directions are the lon-
gitudinal tension, longitudinal bending, transverse
bending, and transverse compression. From these
tests, we evaluated the static and fatigue strengths in
longitudinal tensile (X), longitudinal compression (X0 ),
transverse tension (Y), and transverse compression (Y0 ).
The details for test methods and tests results shown
here were published in our previous paper.6
Therefore, the explanation presented here addresses
the formulations of ATM-2 using the measured data.
Creep compliance of matrix resin
The master curve of creep compliance and the time–
temperature shift factor of matrix resin can be
determined practically by the storage modulus for the
transverse direction of unidirectional CFRP laminates
measured at various frequencies and temperatures
using the dynamic viscoelastic testing machine.
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169
The left side of Figure 8(a) shows the storage modulus
E0 for the transverse direction of unidirectional CFRP
laminates versus time t, where time t is the inverse of
frequency. The right side shows the master curve of E0 ,
which is constructed by shifting E0 at various constant
temperatures along the logarithmic scale of t and loga-
rithmic scale of E0 until they overlapped each other,
for the reduced time t0 at the reference temperature
T0 ¼ 25 C. E0 at various constant temperatures can be
superimposed so that a smooth curve is constructed.
Therefore, TTSP is applicable for the storage modulus
for the transverse direction of unidirectional CFRP
laminates.
The time–temperature shift factor aTo(T), which is
the horizontal shift amount shown by rectangular sym-
bols in Figure 8(b), can be formulated by equation (14).
The temperature shift factor bTo(T), which is the
amount of vertical shift, shown by circular symbols in
Figure 8(b), can be fit with equation (15).
The creep compliance Dc of matrix resin was back-
calculated from the storage modulus E0 for the trans-
verse direction of unidirectional CFRP laminates
using12

Dc ðtÞ  1=EðtÞ, EðtÞ ffi E0 ð!Þ!!2=ðtÞ ð16Þ
and a modified rule of mixture by Tsai13 as
 
1 1 1 þ Vy 1 Vm
¼   , Vy ¼ 0:516 , ð17Þ
Em Vy ET EfT Vf
where Em and EfT, respectively, denote Young’s modu-
lus of matrix resin and transverese modulus of fiber. Vm
and Vf, respectively, stand for the volume fraction of
matrix and fibers. The master curve of back-calculated
Dc of matrix resin is shown in Figure 9. The master
curve of Dc can be formulated as equation (13). The
parameters obtained from the formulations for aTo(T),
bTo(T), Dc, and parameters Eft, Vm, and Vf for back-
calculation of Dc are listed in Table 1.
170 Journal of Composite Materials 49(2)

Figure 9. Master curve of creep compliance for matrix resin calculated from the storage modulus for the transverse direction of
unidirectional CFRP laminates.

where D* is the viscoelastic coefficient to the input of

Table 1. Parameters for master curve of creep constant strain rate and is obtained using the following
compliance for matrix resin. equation8
T0 ( C) 25 0 
t
Dc0 (1/GPa) 0.330 D ðt0 , T0 Þ
Dc , T0 : ð19Þ
2
t’0 (min) 1
mg 0.00950 For strength  f(t’,T0) under cyclic loading in which
mr 0.260 stress ratio R is zero and the accumulation index of
t’g (min) 1.12E08 damage kD is zero, equation (12) can be simplified to

H1 (kJ/mol) 101

H2 (kJ/mol) 760 log f ðPf , t0 , T0 , Nf , RÞ
Tg ( C) 162   1
b0 1.13E-02
¼ log 0 t00 , T0 þ log½ lnð1  Pf Þ
"  #
b1 9.85E-04 D ðt0 , T0 Þ 1
b2 2.43E-05  nr log 0   nf logð2Nf Þ ð20Þ
Dc t0 , T0 2
b3 2.23E-07
b4 6.98E-10
where D* is expressed by the following equation for
Eft (GPa) 29.3 sinusoidal cyclic load pattern
Vm 0.45
 
Vf 0.55 1 1 1 Nf
D ðt0 , T0 Þ
Dc ðt0 , T0 Þ þ Dc , T0 , f0 ¼
2 2 4f0 t0
ð21Þ

Master curves of static and fatigue strengths for where f 0 is the reduced frequency at reference tempera-
ture T0.
unidirectional CFRP Figure 10(a) shows the Weibull distribution of static
For strength  f(t0 ,T0) under static loading, equation strength of CFRP laminates at T ¼ 25 C for four dir-
(12) can be simplified to ections of X, X0 , Y, and Y0 . From these results, the scale
and shape parameters  0s and s for the static strength
  1 at T ¼ 25 C can be determined as listed in Table 2.
log f ðPf , t0 , T0 Þ ¼ log 0 t00 , T0 þ log½ lnð1  Pf Þ
"  # Figure 11 shows the temperature dependence of static
D ðt0 , T0 Þ strength of CFRP laminates for four directions of X,
 nr log   , ð18Þ X0 , Y, and Y0 . These strengths clearly depend on tem-
Dc t00 , T0
perature. Figure 12 shows the relation between the

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Nakada and Miyano 171

Figure 10. Weibull distributions for the strength of CFRP laminates. (a) Static strength of CFRP laminates at T ¼ 25 C, (b) static
strength of CFRP laminates for all temperatures tested, (c) fatigue strength of CFRP laminates for all temperatures tested, and (d)
fatigue strength of CFRP laminates at T ¼ 25 C and 80 C.

static strength of CFRP laminates and the viscoelastic
compliance of matrix resin corresponding to the same
time and temperature. The time and temperature
dependence of static strengths for CFRP laminates
against the viscoelastic compliance of matrix resin is
determined uniquely. Each of these slopes is constant.
The material parameter nr can be determined as the
slope of this relation. Figure 10(b) shows the Weibull
distribution of static strength of CFRP laminates for all
temperatures tested. From these results, the scale and
shape parameters  0r and ar for the static strength for
all temperatures tested can be determined as listed in
Table 2. The  0r and ar are almost same to  0s and as
for each direction. Therefore, the failure probability of
static strength of CFRP laminates in each direction is
independent of temperature.
Figure 13 shows the fatigue strength of CFRP lamin-
ates versus number of cycles to failure for all tempera-
tures tested. The fatigue strength in each direction
clearly depends on temperature. Figure 14(a) shows
the strength degradation of CFRP laminates versus
number of cycles to failure. The strength degradation
of CFRP laminates, that is fC, can be determined by
subtracting the strength variation by viscoelastic com-
pliance of matrix resin from the fatigue strength shown
in Figure 13. Figure 10(c) shows the Weibull

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172 Journal of Composite Materials 49(2)

Table 2. Parameters for master curve of fatigue strength for

unidirectional CFRP laminates.

X X’ Y Y’

nr 0.165 0.605 1.54 2.11

nf 0.0903 0.0455 0.0785 0.0335
nfa 0.0728 0.0343 0.122 0.0417
 0s (MPa) 2923 2305 115 225
 0r (MPa) 2919 2349 116 225
 0f (MPa) 3098 2394 116 229
 0f (MPa)a 3016 2367 113 223
s 19.1 23.1 6.81 15.0
r 22.3 18.9 8.39 17.3
f 7.26 7.55 4.39 7.61
f a 10.6 13.6 9.31 15.7
a
Except the data measured at 150 C. Figure 12. Static strength of CFRP laminates versus viscoelas-
tic compliance of matrix resin.

Figure 11. Temperature dependence for the static strength of

CFRP laminates.

distribution of strength degradation of CFRP lamin-
ates for all temperatures tested. From these results,
the scale and shape parameters  0f and af can be deter-
mined as listed in Table 2. The af for each direction is
much smaller than ar of static strength for all tempera-
tures tested. It is considered that the fatigue failure
mechanism for each direction at high temperature
(150 C) is different with those at 25 C and 80 C.
Therefore, we determined the strength degradation of
CFRP laminates except the data measured at 150 C.
Figures 14(b) and 10(d), respectively, show the strength
degradation of CFRP laminates versus number of
cycles to failure and the Weibull distribution of strength
degradation at 25 C and 80 C. From these results, the
scale and shape parameters  0f and af can be
Figure 13. Fatigue strength of CFRP laminates versus number
of cycles to failure at various temperatures.
determined as listed in Table 2. The af for each direc-
tion is almost similar to that of static strength ar except
the results for X direction. It can be presumed that the
tensile fatigue strengths for X direction are affected by
stress concentration in the grip of specimen, and there-
fore the scatter of fatigue strength is large.
Figures 15 and 16, respectively, show the master
curves of static and fatigue strengths of CFRP lamin-
ates for each direction. The solid, dashed, and dotted
lines show the scale parameter and failure probability
levels for 90% and 10%, respectively. The master

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Nakada and Miyano 173

Figure 14. Strength degradation of CFRP laminates by the number of cycles to failure at various temperatures. (a) Includes the data
measured at all temperatures tested and (b) except the data measured at 150 C.

Figure 15. Master curves for static strength of CFRP laminates.

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174
Figure 16. Master curves for fatigue strength of CFRP laminates.
curves of static strength for each direction agree well
with experimental data for all temperatures tested. The
master curves of fatigue strength for each direction
agree well with experimental data except those mea-
sured at 150 C. The failure mechanism of CFRP lamin-
ates for cyclic loading at high temperature near the
glass transition temperature should be discussed in
another paper.
Conclusion
An ATM-2 for the long-term life prediction of CFRP
laminates exposed to an actual loading having general
stress and temperature history was proposed. ATM-2 is
applicable to predict the long-term static and fatigue
strengths in the typical four directions of unidirectional
CFRP laminates employed in this study.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Office of Naval Research for support-
ing this work through an ONR award with Dr Yapa
Rajapakse as the ONR Program Officer. Our award, num-
bered as N000140611139, is ‘‘Verification of Accelerated
Testing Methodology for Long-Term Durability of CFRP
Downloaded from jcm.sagepub.com at University of Manchester Library on January 3, 2015
Journal of Composite Materials 49(2)
laminates for Marine Use’’. The authors thank Professor
Richard Christensen, Stanford University as a consultant of
this project.
Conflict of Interest
None declared.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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