Effects of Fiber Reinforcement and Orientation on Fatigue Strength Characteristics of Short Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastics

Abstract

In order to characterize the fatigue strength of various injection moulded thermoplastics, such as PA6, PA66, PES or PEEK, and short glass or short carbon fiber reinforced composites with those thermoplastics for matrix, fatigue tests were conducted under alternating plane bending stress at 20°C.
The effects of the properties of matrices, the kind of reinforced fibers and the molecular or fiber orientation on the fatigue strength characteristics were investigated. The short fiber reinforcement of advanced thermoplastics was also discussed on the basis of the fractographic examinations.