Abstract
It is common in the composites literature to find usage of terminology that is a legacy of monolithic materials such as metals, ceramics and polymers. With the aim of alleviating ambiguity and misinterpretations that can result from such usage, this article attempts to clarify concepts and definitions related to the mechanical behavior of fiber reinforced composites. Focus is placed on failure mechanisms and modes in composite materials, and their comparison with metals. Of special interest is the limit to a material's load-carrying capacity, commonly described as “strength”, which is a subject of major confusion in the literature. The various versions of strength, e.g., residual strength, open-hole tensile strength, in-situ strength and compression after impact strength are scrutinized from the point of view of their being material properties. It is recommended that the practice of loose and ill-defined usage of the strength terminology should be abandoned in favor of resorting to proper use of critical stress states for relating those to the load-carrying capacity under consideration.
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