High pressure strength of carbon fibre reinforced vinylester and epoxy vessels

Abstract High pressure vessels with winding lamination of [90°/±15°] were manufactured adopting a vinylester and an epoxy resin reinforced with carbon fibres. An experimental setup was design to test the vessels up to the burst pressure. The tests results demonstrate a higher ultimate pressure of the carbon/vinylester composite vessel with respect to the epoxy reinforced counterpart. The full field strain measurements by the digital image correlation technique show a delayed of the initiation and propagation of the damage in the carbon/vinylester. Moreover, the carbon/vinylester vessel performed more homogeneous strain distribution with less and shorter hoop cracks than the carbon/epoxy one, as observed also with an X-ray micro tomography system, a laser microscope and a scanning electron microscope.