ABSTRACT
To fabricate large-scale or unusually shaped composite structures, pieces of fabric plies can be spliced to match size and shape requirements, forming ply splice structures. The junction of different plies can be considered as a defect in the resulting composite material, affecting the overall mechanical properties. In this paper, unidirectional carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) with ply splices was used as a research object to study these potential material defects. The effects of ply splices at different positions on the tensile properties of CFRP and the coupling between position of ply splicing were analyzed. Simultaneously, a finite element model was established to analyze the damage evolution, in which a continuous damage model and a cohesive zone model were used to describe the damage of the composite and interface layers, respectively. The model results were in good agreement with observed experimental results. Our results showed that there were three main factors for this failure mechanism: boundary effects, whether the ply splices were independent, or whether they were close to each other. In short, when two ply splices were located at the edge or independent of each other, the failure mode was first delamination and then fiber fracture, and the tensile strength was high. However, when the two ply splices were close to the edge or close to each other, the failure mode was first local fiber fracture and then delamination damage, and the resulting tensile strength was low. Finally, different reinforcement methods to improve the tensile properties of composites were adopted for the splicing layers at different positions through the analysis via model simulation. The two-side patch repair method was used to reinforce the ply splices on or near the edge. Additionally, increasing the toughness of the adhesive layer was used to reinforce the ply splices that were inside the material. These results showed that the tensile strength was enhanced by these two methods of reinforcement, and the initial damage load was especially increased.