The fracture energy and acoustic emission of a short carbon fiber reinforced nylon 66 composite

Two knee points which are found in the cumulative plotting of acoustic emission (AE) events on a semi-log sheet in a monotonically increasing tensile load system of the center notched carbon fiber reinforced nylon 66 composite (FRTP) are applied to the estimation of the energy value required for the beginning of the stable crack propagation, the one for the stable crack propagation and also the one for the final fracture. They have been examined with regard to the dependence of some mechanical properties of the material on the gauge length, the fiber content and the crack length to width ratio of the specimen. Correlations between the AE characteristic nature such as AE activity (the number of AE events per unit area) and the above energy values are also investigated with regard to the results of the fractographic measurement of the fracture surface. It has been found that the energy required for the stable crack propagation decreases with an increase in the crack length to width ratio and increases with an increase in the gauge length. However, for an unstable crack propagation, it decreases with an increase in the fiber content. The dependence of the energy value on crack length to width ratio disappears in the results for a 30% specimen and this value becomes constant.