Prediction of time-dependent dimensional change induced by thermal residual stress relaxation in CFRP cross-ply laminates

In this paper, time-dependent dimensional change in a symmetrical cross-ply laminates was predicted by transverse properties of the CFRP laminates. CFRP with pitch-based carbon fiber and cyanate ester resin was chosen for the study. Viscoelastic property was obtained by performing tensile creep test for unidirectional laminates in the transverse direction. In addition, shrinkage caused by physical aging was obtained by measuring the strain change for unidirectional laminates as well. Experimental results were applied to the classical lamination theory in order to predict the time-dependent dimensional change of a symmetrical cross-ply laminates. The strain change in a symmetrical cross-ply laminates was obtained experimentally using an extensometer, and the result was compared with the prediction. From the comparison, it was concluded that the proposed prediction method is appropriate. It was also found that physical aging shrinkage must be compensated in order to evaluate the relaxation modulus from tensile creep test result. The effect of physical aging shrinkage must also be considered in prediction of time-dependent deformation in cross-ply laminates.