Influence of Mixed-Mode Ratio on Delamination Fracture Toughness and Energy Release Rate of Glass/Polyester Laminates

Abstract:

Glass fiber reinforced materials are particularly attractive for transportation industries because of their high strength/mass ratio and their low cost compared to other materials. Therefore, the composite material system used in this study consists of polyester resin layers reinforced with E-glass fabrics. In this paper, the effect of mixed-mode loading on fracture parameters of glass reinforced polyester composite specimens is investigated both experimentally and numerically. Geometric factors were calculated for modified Arcan specimen using finite element analysis. The finite element results indicated that for loading angles close to pure mode-II loading, a high ratio of mode-II to mode-I fracture is dominant and there is an opposite trend for loading angles close to pure mode-I loading. According to experimentally measured fracture toughness for glass/polyester, the opening-mode and shearing mode interlaminar critical strain energy release rates, were found. Results indicated that the interlaminar cracked specimen is tougher in shear loading condition and weaker in tensile loading conditions.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volumes 471-472)
• Pages: 874-879
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.471-472.874
• Online since: February 2011
• Authors: Astiaj Khoramshahi, Naghdali Choupani
• Keywords: Delamination, Fracture Toughness, Glass Fiber

References

[1] S. Majumdar and D. Hunston, Continuous Parallel Fiber composite fracture, Encyclopedia of materials: science and technology, pp.1618-1629, (2001).

DOI: 10.1016/b0-08-043152-6/00287-4

[2] Dharmawan, G. Simpson, I. Herszberg, S. John, Mixed Mode fracture Toughness Tests of GFRP Composites, International Journal of Composite Structures, 75, p.328–338, (2006).

DOI: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2006.04.020

[3] Kim BW, Nairn JA, Observations of fiber fracture and interfacial debonding phenomena using the fragmentation test in single fiber composites, Journal of Composite Materials, 36, p.1825–1858, (2002).

DOI: 10.1177/0021998302036015243

[4] Arcan M, Hashin Z, Voloshin A. A method to produce uniform plane stress‏ states with applications to fibre reinforced materials, Experimental Mechanics, 18, p.141–146, (1978).

DOI: 10.1007/bf02324146

[5] E.E. Gdoutos, Fracture Mechanics, An Introduction, second ed., Springer, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece, ISBN 1-4020-3153-X, (2005).

[6] Choupani N, Experimental and numerical investigation of the mixed-mode delamination in Arcan laminated specimens, Journal of Material Science and Engineering A, 478, p.229–242, (2008).

DOI: 10.1016/j.msea.2007.05.103

[7] Shin CF, Moran B, Nakamura T, Energy release rate along a three-dimensional crack front in a thermally stressed body, International Journal of Fracture, 30, pp.79-102, (1986).

DOI: 10.1007/bf00034019

[8] Martin RH, Delamination characterization of woven glass/polyester composites, Journal of Composites Technology and Research, 19, p.20–28, (1997).

DOI: 10.1520/ctr10010j

[9] Standard Test Method for Mode I Interlaminar Fracture Toughness of Unidirectional Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites. USA ASTM Standard D5528-01, (2001).

DOI: 10.1520/d5528-13