Impact of curing on residual stresses formation and fatigue behaviour of carbon/epoxy laminate composites - application to racing yachts
Abstract
One of the levers to gain in performance of composite structures used for racing yachts (IMOCA, America's Cup) is by a better knowledge between the manufacturing process and the final properties. This study addresses one aspect of this objective. The objective is to study the impact of the manufacturing process on the fatigue behaviour of carbon/epoxy laminate. More precisely, the work aimed at understanding the link between the curing parameters, the residual stresses in the composite laminate and the fatigue behaviour. This work is carried on in collaboration with two companies from the Brittany Sailing Valley dealing with the design and manufacturing of composite parts.