25th Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, 3 - 8 September 2006, Hamburg, Germany
Paper ICAS 2006-4.2.3

FATIGUE PROPERTIES OF Z-PINNED AIRCRAFT COMPOSITE MATERIALS

A. P. Mouritz, P. Chang, B. N. Cox*
RMIT, Australia; *Rockwell Scientific Co LLC, USA

Keywords: Composites, fatigue, z-pins

The fatigue properties of z-pinned composites for potential use in next-generation aircraft structures are investigated in the research paper. Z-pins reduce the fatigue life under cyclic tension, compression and bending loads due to microstructural damage caused by the z-pinning process. Mechanisms responsible for the deterioration in fatigue performance are described.

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