Anisotropic Behaviour of Extruded Short Carbon Fibre Reinforced PEEK Under Static and Fatigue Loading

The influence of fibre orientation on an extruded short carbon PEEK composite, reinforced with 30% weight fraction fibres, was investigated. Specimens were obtained from plates along directions transverse and parallel to the extrusion flow different types spatial arrangements observed. Prior fatigue testing elastic modulus each specimen measured specimens grouped into homogeneous families, low high modulus. Each family exhibited distinct strength, associated progressive damage patterns failure mechanisms. With increasing alignment fibres loading axis, a noticeable improvement strength could be observed, whereas when mostly perpendicular, properties even lower than those unreinforced PEEK. Overall, results suggest that products may exhibit heterogeneous microstructure wide range properties, making definition design allowables critical task.