The thin-walled cylindrical tubes are frequently used for the evaluation of fatigue property of composites. But the curvature of the tubular specimen induces interlaminar normal stress which may affect the fatigue property. In this paper interlaminar normal stress effect on the fatigue behaviour of thin-walled graphite/epoxy tubes [±45]s composites was studied experimentally. It was concluded that the interlaminar normal stress induced by the curvature of the cylinder has no discernible effect on the fatigue life. But excessive internal pressure can produce the stiffness increase and this affects the fatigue life of the cylindrical tubular composite.

Keywords: Fatigue, Graphite/Epoxy Composite, Interlaminar Normal Stress, Cylindrical Tubular Specimen