Spherical indentation of composite laminates with controlled gradients in elastic anisotropy

Three-dimensional elastic analyses and experiments of indentation of thick laminated plates of carbon fiber reinforced epoxy are presented. Pointwise, the material is characterized as a linear elastic orthotropic material. The in-plane orientation of the carbon fibers is systematically varied as a function of depth. The influence of fiber orientation as a function of depth on the indentation response is considered along with the relationship between the indenter force vs depth. The fiber orientation profiles considered are those of a continuous linear variation between 90° at the outer surfaces and 0° at the center plane of the laminate, and a cross ply laminate involving alternating 90° and 0° layers through thickness. Experimentally, it is found that for the case of a cross-ply laminate, the indentation produces delaminations localized at the interfaces that separate planes of dissimilar orientation. For this case, stress concentrations at interfaces between plies of dissimilar orientation coincide with the observed sites of delamination. For the graded case, evidence of enhanced nonlinear deformation is found, without the nucleation of cracks. Computations show that for the graded material, tensile stresses perpendicular to fibers are suppressed significantly, possibly explaining the absence of matrix cracks in this material. Measured and computed indenter force-depth variations were found to be in good agreement. Experiments and computations also reveal that the orientation-graded material is more compliant when subjected to indentation than the conventional cross-ply laminate.