The influence of fibre sizing on the strength and fracture toughness of glass fibre composites

The influence of the fibre/matrix interface strength on fibre cross-over bridging in a crack along fibres is investigated. Four different composite systems (commercial glass fibre with two different sizings and two matrix resins) resulting in strong and weak interfaces were manufactured. Their crack growth resistance during crack propagation with fibre bridging in a double cantilever beam specimen loaded with end moments was measured. Bridging laws were derived from the experimental results and correlated with the chemical interface characteristics and a micromechanical model. It was found that a strong interface provided higher transverse strength and crack initiation loads, while the weak interface exhibited higher toughness due to enhanced fibre bridging. Composites with different matrix resins showed large variations in bridging behaviour even if their transverse strength was similar.     

Branching model for the fracture of fibre composites

Models of localized and delocalized fracture of fibre reinforced composite materials have been considered from the viewpoint of the theory of branching processes. The analysis has shown that, in spite of apparent differences, both types of models can be reduced to generally the same Markov chain. As a result, a new fracture criterion has been proposed that is valid for any model. The use of the new criterion allowed for the revelation of a new structural effect, i.e. the dependence of the fracture stress of the composite upon the size of the cross-section of the composite sample. In the case of a fracture of an infinitely large composite sample, the criterion yields the same fracture stress as calculated on the basis of earlier models. In the case of the fracture of a sample of a finite size, the predicted fracture stress is lower than calculated according to previous models. The effect can be explained as a non-linear fracture phenomenon arising out of the non-linear dependence of microfracture probabilities upon overstressing caused by other microfractures. The effect is essential for evaluating the strength of a structured composite with several levels of ordering and constriction elements of a small size.     

The fracture energy of hybrid carbon and glass fibre composites

The fracture energy of a model carbon fibre/glass fibre/epoxy resin hybrid composite system has been evaluated as a function of the carbon fibre/glass fibre ratio. Work of fracture measurements were less than a rule of mixtures prediction and a pronounced negative synergistic effect was observed at high carbon fibre and high glass fibre contents. Fibre debonded lengths and fibre pull-out lengths for the carbon and glass fibres were accurately measured using a projection microscope technique. Models of microscopic fracture behaviour, together with these measurements, were successful in quantitatively describing the observed fracture behaviour of the hybrid fibrous composites. It was found that post-debond friction energy provided a major contribution to the fracture energy of the glass fibres. The post debond sliding mechanism was also shown to be primarily responsible for the non-linear behaviour of the work of fracture of the hybrid composite.     

Effect of fibre misalignment on the fracture behaviour of fibre-reinforced composites

Deviations from ideal parallel packing in a unidirectional fibre-reinforced composite affect its resistance to splitting. In order to relate, quantitatively, the failure processes to such misorientation, it is necessary to characterize the departure from ideality and to measure the resistance to failure. Experimental observations are presented relating to: (i) a tendency for the carbon fibres in a tow to group into bundles that deviate somewhat from being parallel with each other, and (ii) the fracture toughness for the splitting of several imperfectly aligned composites. Statistical representations are offered for quantifying or modelling the degree of misalignment.     

Surface evaluation of carbon fibre composites using wavelet texture analysis

Strong and lightweight fibre reinforced polymeric composites now dominate the aerospace, marine and low-volume automotive sectors. The surface finish on exterior composite panels is of critical importance for customer satisfaction. This paper describes the application of wavelet texture analysis (WTA) to the task of automatically classifying the surface finish of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) samples into two quality grades. Automatic classification was successful for all but four samples out of 14,400 classification trial configurations, representing 403,200 sample classification attempts (28 attempts per configuration). This work establishes the principle of WTA as a basis for automatic surface finish classification of composite materials.     

Effect of fibre misalignment on fracture behaviour of fibre-reinforced composites

When a matrix crack encounters a fibre that is inclined relative to the direction of crack opening, geometry requires that the fibre flex is bridging between the crack faces. Conversely, the degree of flexing is a function of the crack face separation, as well as of (1) the compliance of the supporting matrix, (2) the crossing angle, (3) the bundle size, and (4) the shear coupling of the fibre to the matrix. At some crack face separation the stress level in the fibre bundle will cause it to fail. Other bundles, differing in size and orientation, will fail at other values of the crack separation. Such bridging contributes significantly to the resistance of the composite to crack propagation and to ultimate failure. The stress on the composite needed to produce a given crack face separation is inferred by analysing the forces and displacements involved. The resulting model computes stress versus crack-opening behaviour, ultimate strengths, and works of failure. Although the crack is assumed to be planar and to extend indefinitely, the model should also be applicable to finite cracks.Glossary of Symbols a radius of fibre bundle - C 2 _f /aE _f - ^* critical failure strain of fibre bundle - _b bending strain in outer fibre of a bundle - _c background strain in composite - _f axial strain in fibre - _s strain in fibre bundle due to fibre stretching = _f - () strain in composite far from crack - E Young's modulus of fibre bundle - E _c Young's modulus of composite - E _f Young's modulus of fibre - E _m Young's modulus of matrix - f() number density per unit area of fibres crossing crack plane in interval to + d - F total force exerted by fibre bundle normal to crack plane - F _s component of fibre stretching force normal to crack plane - F _b component of bending force normal to crack plane - G _m shear modulus of matrix - h crack face opening relative to crack mid-point - h _m matrix contraction contribution to h - h _f fibre deformation contribution to h - h _max crack opening at which bridging stress is a maximum - I moment of inertia of fibre bundle - k fibre stress decay constant in non-slip region - k ₀ force constant characterizing an elastic foundation (see Equation 7) - L exposed length of bridging fibre bundle (see Equation 1a) - L _f half-length of a discontinuous fibre - m, n parameters characterizing degree of misalignment - N number of bundles intersecting a unit area of crack plane - P _b bending force normal to bundle axis at crack midpoint - P _s stretching force parallel to bundle axis in crack opening - Q() distribution function describing the degree of misalignment - s _f fibre axial tensile stress - s _f ^* fibre tensile failure stress - S stress supported by totality of bridging fibre bundles - S _max maximum value of bridging stress - v fibre displacement relative to matrix - v elongation of fibre in crack bridging region - u _coh non-slip contribution to fibre elongation - U fibre elongation due to crack bridging - v overall volume fraction of fibres - v _f volume fraction of bundles - v _m volume fraction matrix between bundles - w transverse deflection of bundle at the crack mid-point - x distance along fibre axis, origin defined by context - X distance between the end of discontinuous fibre and the crack face - X ^* threshold (minimum) value of X that results in fibre failure instead of complete fibre pullout - y displacement of fibre normal to its undeflected axis - Z() area fraction angular weighting function - tensile strain in fibre relative to applied background strain - ^* critical value of to cause fibre/matrix debonding - angle at which a fibre bundle crosses the crack plane - (k ₀/4EI)^1/4, a parameter in cantilever beam analysis - v_m Poisson's ratio of matrix - L (see Equation 9) - shear stress - _* interlaminar shear strength of bundle - _d fibre/matrix interfacial shear strength - _f frictional shear slippage stress at bundle/matrix interface - angular deviation of fibre bundle from mean orientation of all bundles - angle between symmetry axis and crack plane     

Some aspects of fracture in brittle fibre composites

This paper describes some observations on the propagation of cracks through a brittle matrix reinforced with strong, stiff, unidirectional fibres. By means of a model material, observations are made of the interaction of a matrix crack with an isolated fibre normal to the crack. The experiments were extended to cover interaction with a row of fibres. The results of these tests are then compared with the behaviour of a real composite. One interesting observation concerns a mechanism whereby a single initial crack can initiate a series of parallel cracks which enable the opening displacement of the main crack to be distributed among this series of secondary cracks as fracture proceeds through the material.     

Filament fracture within glass fibre strands in hybrid fibre cement composites

In the study of hybrid fibre cement composites containing continuous polypropylene fibres and glass fibres, it is important to know the fracture behaviour of the glass fibre strand in order to minimise the discrepancies between experiment and theory. A new technique of light transmission through the glass fibres has been developed in order to obtain independent information about the failure of individual glass filaments within a strand. The technique gave quantitative results showing that in the hybrid composite, about 80% of the glass filaments were broken somewhere in the strands before the maximum stress in the composite was reached. This was in contrast to the composite reinforced with glass fibres alone where only about 30% of the filaments were fractured before the ultimate stress. The fractures of the glass filaments in the hybrid composite were more evenly distributed than in the singly reinforced composite which enabled greater strains to be achieved in the hybrid composite at the maximum stress.     

The effect of fibre length on fracture toughness and notched strength of short carbon fibre/epoxy composites

The effect of radius of curvature on the tensile notched strength of random short carbon fibre/epoxy composites containing 1, 5 and 15 mm length fibres is studied. The strength of all laminates showed a sensitivity to the radius of curvature, with the tensile strength decreasing at smaller radii of curvature. A model is developed to predict notched strength based on assumed evolution and propagation of damage from the tip of the notch. The predictions of the model depend principally on two material properties: the unnotched tensile strength and fracture toughness. Reasonable agreement is achieved between the predicted notched strength and experimental data.     

Phenomenological fracture model for biaxial fibre reinforced composites

This paper proposes a new mathematical fracture model (FM) applicable to a biaxial reinforced composite material. The mathematical model provides predictions about the limit state of composite material. It is applicable both in uniaxial and biaxial requests. The mathematical model is validated by comparing its predictions with the experimental data obtained by authors. The studied composite material is composed by carbon fibre in epoxy matrix. The process used for obtaining the composite materials plates is vacuum forming.     

Interlaminar fracture morphology of carbon fibre/PEEK composites

The interlaminar fracture morphology of a carbon fibre/poly(ether-ether-ketone) composite (Aromatic Polymer Composite, APC-2) has been examined. The techniques used included scanning electron microscopy on fracture surfaces and on polished and etched sections. Two types of interlaminar fracture are observed: stable and unstable fracture. Both fracture surfaces exhibit microductility but it is more extensive for stable fracture. The fracture surfaces are not planar but have surface roughness. Fibre breakage and peeling are also observed and a quantitative examination enables the fracture energy contributions from the various processes to be calculated. The use of an etching technique reveals the spherulite texture and the presence of a deformation zone which extends into the bulk of the composite from the fracture surface. The extent of this zone is greater in the stable fracture region than in the unstable region and its presence indicates that the volume of composite which can be brought into the energy absorbing process extends well beyond the interlaminar region. The size of the zone has also been calculated using the fracture energy contributions and there is moderate agreement between calculated and observed zone size. Patterns of microductility on the fracture surface are seen to be due to spherulite texture, however the spherulite boundaries do not influence the fracture path.     

Strength and fracture toughness of carbon fibre polyester composites

Fracturing of carbon fibre/polyester composites has been studied by means of mechanical testing and scanning electron microscopy. Carbon fibres were surface-treated in several ways so as to vary the interlaminar shear strength of the composites, and the effect of this variation on the work of fracture was determined by means of Charpy V-notch impact tests and slow three-point bend tests on notched specimens of triangular cross-section. The effect of moisture on the fracture toughness was also studied by measuring toughness and interlaminar shear strength after exposure to steam. Improvement of the fibre/resin bond results, as expected, in an increase in the brittleness of composites and it appears that a purely mechanical bond, such as might be obtained by acid-etching the fibre surface, is less proof against deterioration in humid atmospheres than a chemical bond, such as can be obtained by the use of coupling agents. Estimates of the magnitude of various contributions to the fracture toughness show that in carbon-fibre-reinforced resins the effect of increasing the stiffness or load-bearing ability of the matrix and the work done against friction in pulling broken fibres out of the matrix contribute approximately one fifth and four fifths, respectively, of the total work of fracture.     

The fracture energy of metal fibre reinforced ceramic composites (MFCs)

A model is presented for prediction of the fracture energy of ceramic-matrix composites containing dispersed metallic fibres. It is assumed that the work of fracture comes entirely from pull-out and/or plastic deformation of fibres bridging the crack plane. Comparisons are presented between these predictions and experimental measurements made on a commercially-available composite material of this type, containing stainless steel (304) fibres in a matrix predominantly comprising alumina and alumino-silicate phases. Good agreement is observed, and it’s noted that there is scope for the fracture energy levels to be high (∼20 kJ m⁻²). Higher toughness levels are both predicted and observed for coarser fibres, up to a practical limit for the fibre diameter of the order of 0.5 mm. Other deductions are also made concerning strategies for optimisation of the toughness of this type of material.     

The elevated-temperature dependence of fracture energy mechanisms of hybrid carbon-glass fibre reinforced composites

The fracture energy of a model hybrid carbon-glass-epoxy resin composite system has been evaluated at room temperature and three elevated temperatures. Values of the work of fracture increased with temperature and glass fibre content with an especially dramatic increase for the high temperature-high glass fibre content specimens. Evaluation of existing microstructural fracture energy mechanisms of fibre debonding, post-debond sliding and fibre pull-out were successful in quantitatively accounting for the work of fracture at room temperature. For the elevated-temperature tests of glass fibres in epoxy resin, it was shown that extensive frictional energy of the nature of the post-debond sliding mechanism is also dissipated after fibre failure.     

Stacking sequence effects on fracture of notched carbon fibre/epoxy composites

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of the so-called damage zone model (DZM) to predict the influence of stacking sequence on the strength of notched carbon fibre/epoxy composites. The DZM is in essence based on the unnotched tensile strength, σ₀, and the apparent fracture energy, G_c^*, and the damage zone is modelled as a crack with cohesive forces acting on the crack surfaces. The DZM predicts fracture loads for three-point bend (TPB) specimens and specimens with circular holes quite accurately. As an attempt to explain the difference in strengths, the damage zone extension in the TPB specimens with different stacking sequence was examined.