scholarly journals An Assessment of ASTM E1922 for Measuring the Translaminar Fracture Toughness of Laminated Polymer Matrix Composite Materials

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 3129
Author(s):  
Islam El-Sagheer ◽  
Amr A. Abd-Elhady ◽  
Hossam El-Din M. Sallam ◽  
Soheir A. R. Naga

The main objective of this work is to predict the exact value of the fracture toughness (KQ) of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP). The drawback of the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) E1922 specimen is the lack of intact fibers behind the crack-tip as in the real case, i.e., through-thickness cracked (TTC) specimen. The novelty of this research is to overcome this deficiency by suggesting unprecedented cracked specimens, i.e., matrix cracked (MC) specimens. This MC exists in the matrix (epoxy) without cutting the glass fibers behind the crack-tip in the unidirectional laminated composite. Two different cracked specimen geometries according to ASTM E1922 and ASTM D3039 were tested. 3-D FEA was adopted to predict the damage failure and geometry correction factor of cracked specimens. The results of the TTC ASTM E1922 specimen showed that the crack initiated perpendicular to the fiber direction up to 1 mm. Failure then occurred due to crack propagation parallel to the fiber direction, i.e., notch insensitivity. As expected, the KQ of the MC ASTM D3039 specimen is higher than that of the TTC ASTM D3039 specimen. The KQ of the MC specimen with two layers is about 1.3 times that of the MC specimen with one layer.

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2509
Author(s):  
Seyed Mohammad Javad Razavi ◽  
Rasoul Esmaeely Neisiany ◽  
Moe Razavi ◽  
Afsaneh Fakhar ◽  
Vigneshwaran Shanmugam ◽  
...  

Functionalized polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers were used in the present investigation to enhance the fracture behavior of carbon epoxy composite in order to prevent delamination if any crack propagates in the resin rich area. The main intent of this investigation was to analyze the efficiency of PAN nanofiber as a reinforcing agent for the carbon fiber-based epoxy structural composite. The composites were fabricated with stacked unidirectional carbon fibers and the PAN powder was functionalized with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and then used as reinforcement. The fabricated composites’ fracture behavior was analyzed through a double cantilever beam test and the energy release rate of the composites was investigated. The neat PAN and functionalized PAN-reinforced samples had an 18% and a 50% increase in fracture energy, respectively, compared to the control composite. In addition, the samples reinforced with functionalized PAN nanofibers had 27% higher interlaminar strength compared to neat PAN-reinforced composite, implying more efficient stress transformation as well as stress distribution from the matrix phase (resin-rich area) to the reinforcement phase (carbon/phase) of the composites. The enhancement of fracture toughness provides an opportunity to alleviate the prevalent issues in laminated composites for structural operations and facilitate their adoption in industries for critical applications.


Author(s):  
Iurii Burda ◽  
Michel Barbezat ◽  
Andreas J Brunner

Glass-fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite rods with epoxy matrix filled with electrically nonconducting particles find widespread use in high-voltage electrical insulator applications. The service loads require a range of different, minimum material property values, e.g. toughness, tensile, or compressive strength, but also component-specific performance, e.g. pull-out friction of surface crimped metal fittings or electric breakdown strength. The contribution discusses selected examples of the effects of different particle filler types on the properties of filled epoxy resin as well as on the behavior of GFRP rods with such a matrix. In all investigated systems CaCO3 was used as micron-sized filler, complemented by different amounts of either nanosilica or core-shell rubber (binary filler), or by both, nanosilica and core-shell rubber (ternary filler). With ternary filler combinations at a content of 36 wt%, fracture toughness GIC was improved in nanocomposite epoxy plates and in GFRP rods by 60% and 100%, respectively compared to a matrix with 20 wt% CaCO3 (used as reference system). The glass transition temperature Tg for some ternary systems dropped from 160 °C (for neat epoxy), to approximately 140 °C, the maximum allowed drop in Tg in view of requirements from further processing steps of the electrically insulating components. The ternary fillers yield transfer of the improvements of fracture properties from epoxy nanocomposite plates into the GFRP rods beyond that of the system with CaCO3 filler only. Compressive strength of the GFRP rods was improved by about 20% only for the binary nanosilica and CaCO3 filler, and was not significantly enhanced with the ternary systems. That combination, however, did not yield improvements in toughness beyond the CaCO3-filled nanocomposite plates and rods. With the range of filler types and contents investigated here, it was hence not possible to simultaneously optimize both, fracture toughness and compressive strength of the GFRP insulator rods.


2005 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 899-904 ◽  
Author(s):  
George C. Jacob ◽  
J. Michael Starbuck ◽  
John F. Fellers ◽  
Srdan Simunovic ◽  
Raymond G. Boeman

2006 ◽  
Vol 978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvester John Noronha ◽  
Nasr M Ghoniem

AbstractWe present a model for the brittle - ductile transition in heterogenous metallic materials based on two dimensional discrete dislocation simulations of crack-tip plasticity. The sum of elastic fields of the crack and the emitted dislocations defines an elasto-plastic crack field. Effects of crack-tip blunting of the macrocrack are included in the simulations. The plastic zone characteristics are found to be in agreement with continuum models, with the added advantage that the hardening behavior comes out naturally in our model. The present model is composed of a macrocrack with microcracks ahead of its tip. These microcracks represent potential fracture sites at internal inhomogenities, such as brittle precipitates. Dislocations that are emitted from the crack-tip account for plasticity. When the tensile stress at the microcrack situated along the crack plane attains a critical value over a distance fracture is assumed to take place. The brittle-ductile transition curve is obtained by determining the fracture toughness at various temperatures. Factors that contribute to the sharp upturn in fracture toughness with temperature are found to be: the decrease in tensile stress ahead of the crack tip due to increase in blunting, and the increase in dislocation mobility. The inherent scatter in fracture toughness measurements are studied by using a size distribution for microcracks, distributed on the crack plane of the macrocrack. The scatter in fracture toughness measurements is found to be an effect of the size distribution of microcracks rather than their spatial distribution on the matrix ahead of the crack plane. When compared, the obtained results are in agreement with the existing experimental data.


2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 698-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Firas Akasheh ◽  
Heshmat Aglan

The present work reports a novel approach to enhance the fracture resistance and notch sensitivity of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites utilizing additive manufacturing (3-D printing) fabrication. The 3-D printed composites utilize carbon fiber bundles to reinforce nylon/chopped fiber resin in a multilayered structure configuration. Single-edge (60°) notched samples were printed using Mark Two printer. Three reinforcement schemes were designed and used to manufacture the specimens. The focus was placed on selective reinforcement at the crack tip to arrest crack initiation. The mechanical properties, fracture toughness, and fracture behavior of the printed composites were evaluated. It was found that wrapping fiber around the notch effectively blunted the notch and redirected crack propagation away from the notch tip, thereby lengthening the crack path and leading to improved fracture resistance. It was also found that such improvement reaches a saturation level. Excessive notch reinforcement beyond optimal limit can reverse the gains in fracture resistance due to notch-targeted reinforcement. Examination of the fracture surface morphology of the printed composites reveals lack of fusion of the sizing of the individual continuous carbon fiber bundles and the lack of adhesion between the matrix layers (nylon/chopped fiber resin) and the adjacent carbon fiber bundle reinforcement. Damage to the fibers within the carbon bundle was also observed. Thus, a synergetic effect of the carbon fiber bundles reinforcement and the matrix requires more optimization to manufacture carbon-reinforced polymer composites using 3-D printing.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document