Failure kinetic and scaling behavior of the composite materials: Fiber Bundle Model with the local load-sharing rule (LLS)

Abstract

We investigate the spatial distribution of mechanical stresses of composite materials densely packed with thin glass fibers and yield so low transparency that the conventional method of photoelasticity testing fails to provide good quality birefringence fringes. The failure kinetic and the scaling behavior of theses materials are also studied. The calculations are done within the framework of the fiber bundle model with the local load-sharing rule (LLS) in which the load of the failing fiber is shared between only the nearest neighbor elements. We have found that the failure properties of these materials are characterized by the avalanche phenomena with two different timescales and the number of broken fibers presents a Boltzmann distribution. The failure time tf presents a power law with the applied force and the system size. The results show also that the failure kinetic of the composite materials is self-similar. The creep rupture is also investigated. The results show that these materials are characterized by a two creep regimes characterized by the Andrade’s law with a two different exponents, and separated by a cross over time tm more consisting with the experiment results.