Comparability of fatigue strength and life estimation of a CF-PEKK
composite under low and ultrasonic frequencies using
time-temperature-based approaches
Abstract
Predicting very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) life in composites is
challenging due to the lengthy testing times required by traditional
methods. Ensuring compatibility between VHCF and high cycle fatigue
(HCF) data presents an additional challenge. This investigation examines
CF-PEKK fatigue behavior under low and ultrasonic cyclic frequencies
using a thermographic approach and the Fracture Fatigue Entropy (FFE)
concept. Constant-amplitude fatigue (CAF) and increasing-amplitude
fatigue (IAF) tests were conducted, with self-heating behavior analyzed
for different loading conditions. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and
finite element analysis (FEA) enabled stress estimation for each test
setup. Heat dissipation rates from IAF experiments and fatigue data from
three CAF experiments at 40 Hz and three at 20 kHz were used to
calculate FFE values. Results showed that the self-heating response of
CF-PEKK specimens helps achieve comparable fatigue data across
frequencies, with consistent FFE ranges identified between HCF and VHCF
regimes. This consistency highlights that FFE can provide reliable
fatigue life estimation for composites. Thermographic and microscopic
analyses further confirmed this approach as an efficient method for
estimating fatigue life under various cyclic loading conditions.