Abstract
The characterization of stress distribution and thermal expansion/contraction distortion is performed for a unidirectional M40J/AG-80 epoxy composite, which experienced vacuum thermo-cycling in a temperature interval of −180 to 140°C under 10-5 Pa. The finite element analysis, using MSC.Marc 2001 software shows that vacuum thermo-cycling leads to stress concentration appearing at the interface layer, providing a stress condition to form debonding. The transverse expansion/contraction distortion changes linearly with temperature for both samples before and after thermo-cycling, while the longitudinal contraction shows a nonlinear behavior after the thermo-cycling. The variation in longitudinal contraction distortion can be attributed to the interface debonding.
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