Investigation of Mixed-Mode Interlaminar Fracture of Woven Glass Epoxy Composite

Abstract- In this paper experimental and numerical investigation of the interlaminar fracture behavior of woven glass epoxy composite is performed under static mixed-mode loading, using a specially developed fixture. Woven glass/epoxy composite sheet were produced by hand lay-up method and post-cured in an autoclave set. Butterfly samples were prepared by saw water machine. Mixed-mode fracture tests from pure mode I to pure mode II were performed. By using of the finite-element simulations were done by ABAQUS, non-dimensional stress intensity factors of butterfly sample were computed and a polynomial fit was proposed to evaluate the stress intensity factors of an interlaminar crack subjected to various mixed-mode loadings using new designed fixture. The results show that the composite material used in this study is tougher in shear loading conditions and weaker in tensile loadings. Keywords – , , ,