Unravelling in-situ constituent properties of FRPC using DVC in conjunction with SRCT

The mechanical properties of fibre-reinforced polymer composites are governed by the properties of the fibre, matrix, and interface. Many single-fibre testing strategies have been developed to investigate these constituents. Unfortunately, such model composites are not representative for real composites. We, therefore, suggest an alternative route through digital volume correlation (DVC) and synchrotron radiation computed tomography. This allows quantitative strain mapping in real macrostructures while unravelling the in-situ development of microscale damage. Having already validated the representativity of our model composites (at ID19 and TOMCAT), the main challenge currently lies in differentiating matrix and fibre response, which is essential for the validation of our developed numerical models. We will exploit the 150-200 nm voxel sizes possible at ID16B together with acquisition times of 30 minutes to resolve this crucial bottleneck.