A Comparison between Acoustic Emission Approach and Vibration Analysis in Detection of Failure Mechanisms in Carbon/EpoxyComposites

Nowadays, the use of carbon/epoxy composites is vast in industries, according to their high ratios of thestrength to the weight. These composite structures are exposed to failures under mechanical loadings. Therefore, todetect such failures in such structures is important for engineers. There are different methodologies for the detection offailure mechanisms. In the present research, the acoustic emission method and the vibration analysis have been utilizedto detect failure mechanisms in carbon/epoxy laminated composites under tensile loadings. In addition, a comparisonhas been performed between the detection accuracy of these diagnostic approaches. Besides, results of these methodshave been compared to images by the scanning electron microscopy. For such objective, the open-hole standardspecimen was used for tensile testing. The acoustic emission sensor and also the accelerometer have been installed onspecimens. Obtained results showed that two methods could reliably detect failure mechanisms in carbon/epoxycomposites. But the accuracy of the acoustic emission approach was more desirable, compared to results of thevibration analysis in the detection of the type of failure mechanisms and their amounts in carbon/epoxy composites.

Keywords:

Carbon/epoxy composite , Acoustic emission , Vibration analysis , Failure mechanisms detection