Influence of the Test Method on the Characterization of the Fatigue Delamination Behavior of a Composite Material under Mixed Mode I/II Fracture

Composite materials manufactured by overlapping plies with certain specific geometries are likely to lose part of their strength due to the presence of internally delaminated regions. The aim of this paper is to experimentally evaluate the generation and propagation of these interlaminar cracks in a carbon-epoxy composite material subjected to fatigue loading under mixed mode I/II fracture. Two different test methods were used for this purpose:...