Residual thermal stresses in bismaleimide/carbon fiber composite laminates

Abstract This is a study of residual thermal stresses in composite laminates, due to curing cycles. An extended formulation of Classical Lamination Theory (CLT) is adopted, which is able to take into account geometrical nonlinear effects owed to finite displacements. The approach is applied to square asymmetric laminates that have different dimensions and thicknesses. Final laminate shapes are evaluated after complete curing cycles; they can be cylindrical or saddle‐like, and their equilibrium configuration stable or unstable depending on thickness vs. side length ratio. The same laminates are stacked, press‐cured and the radii of curvature experimentally measured. In addition, they are modeled by means of finite element method (FEM) codes, using both linear and nonlinear techniques. Except for the thick laminates, the results obtained using nonlinear theoretical and numerical approaches show good agreement with experiment. Thermal residual strains are computed from non‐mechanical strains by subtracting laminae free thermal deformations; the corresponding stresses are evaluated through layer stiffnesses. Residual stresses are evaluated both theoretically and experimentally. For thicker laminates the disagreement is mainly due to a mixed viscous phenomenon which takes place in resin interlaminar layers and matrix intralaminae. The share of relaxed stresses is evaluated and methods that include optimal cooling path techniques are suggested.