Experimental Study on Tensile Behavior of Carbon Fiber and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Aluminum at Different Strain Rate

In this study, dynamic and quasi-static tensile behaviors of carbon fiber and unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced aluminum composite have been investigated. The complete stress–strain curves of fiber bundles and the composite at different strain rates were obtained. The experimental results show that carbon fiber is a strain rate insensitive material, but the tensile strength and critical strain of the Cf/Al composite increased with increasing of strain rate because of the strain rate strengthening effect of aluminum matrix. Based on experimental results, a fiber bundles model has been combined with Weibull strength distribution function to establish a one-dimensional damage constitutive equation for the Cf/Al composite.