Gong, BowenGe, YuzhongWang, HuanPeng, Hua-XinWisnom, Michael R.Xu, Xiaodong2024-01-042024-01-042023-12-14Gong B, Ge Y, Wang H, et al., (2024) Hygrothermal effects on translaminar fracture toughness of quasi-isotropic laminates with different stacking sequences. Composites Communications, Volume 45, January 2024, Article number 1017912452-2139https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coco.2023.101791https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/20606Hygrothermal effects on the translaminar fracture toughness of the carbon/epoxy composite with two different stacking sequences at 120 °C were studied and the failure mechanisms are explained. The eccentrically loaded single-edge-notch tension (ESET) experiments showed that two different quasi-isotropic stacking sequences ([90/45/0/-45]4s and [45/90/-45/0]4s) have negligible difference in translaminar fracture toughness. It was found that the fracture toughness of conditioned specimens at hot temperature wet (HTW) condition increased by 75 % compared to that at room temperature dry (RTD). The average saturated damage height at HTW increased by 48 % compared with that at RTD according to ex situ X-ray computed tomography (CT) observation. The larger saturated damage height observed in the 0° plies of the HTW specimens results in the higher translaminar fracture toughness.enAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/LaminatesFracture toughnessCT analysisMoistureArticle