Abstract
The mode-I dynamic fracture energy and failure mechanisms of glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites are investigated with an embedded cell model of the single-edge-notched-tension (SENT) geometry. Under an applied dynamic loading, a crack may propagate in the embedded microstructure, accompanied by the development of a fracture process zone in which fiber/matrix debonding, matrix cracking and ductile matrix tearing are observed. Reaching a maximum nominal strain rate of 250/s, a series of SENT tests are performed for different loading velocities and specimen sizes while the dynamic energy release rate is evaluated using the dynamic version of the J-integral. The influence and interaction of loading rate, time-dependent material nonlinearity, structural inertia and matrix ligament bridging on the fracture toughness and failure mechanisms of composites are evaluated. It is found that with the given material parameters and studied loading rate range, the failure type is brittle with many microcracks but limited plasticity in the fracture process zone and a trend of increasing brittleness for larger strain rates is observed. The inertia effect is evident for larger strain rates but it is not dominating. An R-curve in the average sense is found to be strain-rate independent before the fracture process zone is fully developed and afterwards a velocity–toughness mechanism is dictating the crack growth.
Highlights
Fiber reinforced polymer composites have been used in impact-resistant devices, automotives, aircraft structures due to their potential for high strength-to-weight ratios and impact energy absorption
The mode-I dynamic fracture energy and failure mechanisms of glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites are investigated with an embedded cell model of the single-edge-notched-tension (SENT) geometry
A multiscale numerical framework is established to evaluate the fracture energy of dynamic crack propagation in composites
Summary
Fiber reinforced polymer composites have been used in impact-resistant devices, automotives, aircraft structures due to their potential for high strength-to-weight ratios and impact energy absorption. It should be sufficiently large to include all the area in which damage occurs during the propagation of the crack, energy spent by the different failure micromechanisms (interface debonding, matrix cracking, matrix plastic deformation, etc.) is properly taken into account. This approach has been used in analysis of quasi-static crack propagation of in composite material and to compute the fracture toughness associated to different failure modes [32,33]. A multiscale numerical model using the embedded cell approach is developed to evaluate the mode-I fracture energy of dynamic crack propagation in fiber-reinforced composites and to investigate the associated failure mechanisms.
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