Fatigue crack growth behavior of silica particulate reinforced epoxy resin composite

In the present work, fatigue crack growth tests of epoxy resin composite reinforced with silica particle under various R-ratios were carried out to investigate the effect of R-ratio on crack growth behavior and to discuss fatigue crack growth mechanism. Crack growth curves arranged by ΔK showed clear R-ratio dependence even under no crack closure, where the values of ΔKth were 0.82 and 0.33 MPa √m for R = 0.1 and 0.7 respectively. However, crack growth curves arranged by Kmax merged into almost one curve regardless of R-ratio, which indicated that crack growth behavior of the present composite was time-dependent. The value of Kmax,th were in the range from 0.78 to 1.12 MPa √m. In situ crack growth observation revealed the crack growth mechanism: micro-cracking near the interface between silica particle and resin matrix occurs ahead of a main crack and then micro-cracks coalesce with a main crack to grow. The crack path was in the epoxy matrix, which was consistent with the time-dependent crack growth.