Date of Award

6-1-2014

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Organizational Unit

Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science

First Advisor

Maciej Kumosa, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Barry Zink

Third Advisor

Yun Bo Yi

Fourth Advisor

Brian Burks

Keywords

Acoustic emission, Composite, Glass fiber, Modeling, Polymer, Stress corrosion cracking

Abstract

With the use of Polymer Matrix Glass Fiber Composites ever expanding, understanding conditions that lead to failure before expected service life is of increasing importance. Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) has proven to be one such example of conditions found in use in high voltage transmission line applications that leads to brittle fracture of polymer matrix composites.

SCC has been proven to be the result of acid buildup on the lines due to corona discharges and water buildup. This acid leaches minerals from the fibers, leading to fracture at low loads and service life. In order to combat this problem, efforts are being made to determine which composites have greater resistance to SCC. This study was used to create a methodology to monitor for damage during SCC and classify damage by mechanism type (matrix cracking and fiber breaking) by using 4-point SCC bend testing, 3-point bend testing, a forward predictive model, unique post processing techniques, and microscopy. This would allow a classification in composite resistance to SCC as well as create a methodology for future research in this field.

Concluding this study, only matrix cracking was able to be fully classified, however, a methodology was developed for future experimentation.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Jonathan Kosak

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

145 p.

Discipline

Mechanical engineering, Materials Science

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