| Abstract: | The electric emission during failure of fiber reinforced materials and their components Deformation and failure of fiber-reinforced materials (FRM) can cause electric charge displacements. This, consequently, leads to variations in the external electric field. These can be observed and recorded during the loading process without any contact to the sample. Analyzing these signals named electric emission (EE) can be done individually and also statistically when an acoustic emission equipment is used. Fracture of carbon and glass fibers yields EE signals of large amplitudes, whereas the polycarbonate matrix material exhibits smaller ones. The signals obtained in a tensile test with the composite materials exceed the ones of the matrix material but do not attain those of the fiber material. From the shape of the EE signals conclusions can be made on the elementary fracture process. From these experiments it can be concluded that the EE method is a valuable tool with respect to the detection of failure occurence of composite materials as is the acoustic emission technique. The EE technique is a field method and does, therefore, not require any sample preparation. This makes it a low cost technique which can be possibly applied in the field as well as in the laboratory. |
