This research will utilize legacy carbon-fiber composite airframe components to establish the effects of in-service natural aging on the composite material properties and determine the importance of environmental aging as a critical parameter in the service life of the composite structure. In-service aging includes the influence and interaction of time, load, heat, ultraviolet light, oxidation, and other environmental conditions on material property loss. Furthermore, the envisioned research intends to develop progressive damage models to include the residual strength effects as observed from fleet in-service environmental history and/or account for spatially varying properties observed in a laboratory aging scenario or through simulation of the aging process.

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