Measurement of microscopic strain distributions of CFRP laminates with fiber discontinuities by sampling moiré method

Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) laminate structures manufactured using prepregs usually contain fiber discontinuities that result from the prepreg cutting for design and cost-efficiency. In this study, the sampling moiré method was used to measure the microscopic strain of unidirectional CFRP laminates with fiber discontinuities to investigate the deformation behavior that causes damage. In addition to the strain distributions of the laminate before and after cracking, the strain results due to thermal residual stress relaxation and residual plastic deformation during cracking were also obtained. The experimental results of this study were in good agreement with the finite element method results. Our results revealed that the sampling moiré method is an accurate method of measuring microscopic strain that can be used to evaluate the mechanical properties, damage behavior, residual strains in laminates with fiber discontinuities, and other different materials and structures.