Classification of acoustic emission signals collected during tensile tests on unidirectional ultra high molecular weight polypropylene fiber reinforced epoxy composites using principal component analysis

Аннотация

The objective of this study is to utilize a mathematical procedure for the evaluation of damage mechanism in ultra high molecular weight polypropylene/epoxy composite (UHMWPP/epoxy) specimen with different configuration based on the analysis of the AE signals of presented. Principal component analysis (PCA) is powerful tool, which utilized for the classification of the monitored AE transients. We worked on epoxy L160 resin, UHMWPP fiber bundle and UHMWPP/epoxy unidirectional specimens, subjected to tensile loading. Using model specimens exhibiting a predominant damage mechanism, correlations were established between the observed damage growth mechanisms and the AE parameter variances result in PCA. Outputs from this study revealed that the PCA is an effective tool for identifying damage modes such as matrix cracking, fibre/matrix debonding, fibre breakage and fibre pull-out in the UHMWPP/epoxy composites. The presence of damage modes in UHMWPP/epoxy composites was proven with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images.