Acoustic-emission evaluation of the process of destruction of a composite material under tensile, compression, and cyclic loads

Abstract

Destruction of the structure of polymer composite materials (PCMs) has been studied by acoustic-emission evaluation method under tensile, compression, and alternating-sign cyclic loads. A program of cluster classification of registered data arrays has been developed and used to reveal specific AE signals that are typical of studied load types. Detection of such signals in the course of deformation of the test samples indicates that irreversible structural changes occur in the composite, it is losing its carrying capacity, or a predestruction state that is critical for PCM has been reached.