Internal stress determination in a polymer composite by Coda wave interferometry

Coda wave interferometry (CWI) is largely employed in geotechnical applications to monitor changes due to cracks in materials but it is still not used for composite materials. In this paper, the technique is proposed to study internal stresses in a composite laminate [0°/90°]₆₃ and was compared with the traditional acoustic technique. It is shown that the Coda wave interferometry has better precision and sensibility than the method based on the first arriving time of flight (TOF) measurement, especially when the fiber orientation is normal to the wave propagation. This method is found to be promising for residual stress evaluation in composite materials. (paper)