THE FRACTURE BEHAVIOR OF RANDOM FIBER-REINFORCED COMPOSITE SPECIMENS

An experimental investigation of the fracture behavior of random fiber-reinforced composites has been carried out using tension tests. The crack opening displacement (COD) was measured continuously with the applied load. The load-COD curves were used to draw the R-curves (crack growth resistance curves). Using the resulted R-curves, few analytical relationships have been obtained. From these relationships, the fracture toughness has been predicted. The present work gives a better understanding of the crack resistance characteristics of randomly distributed fiber composites.