CRACK ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE LAMINATE

The development of composite materials and related design and manufacturing technologies is one of t he most important advances in the history of materials. Composites are multi - functional materials having unprecedented mechanical and physical properties that can be tailored to meet the requirements of a particular application. Many composites also exhibi t great resistance to high - temperature corrosion and oxidation and wear. These unique characteristics provide the mechanical engineer with design opportunities not possible with conventional monolithic (unreinforced) materials. Composites technology also ma kes possiblethe use of an entire class of solid materials, ceramics, in applications for which monolithicversions are unsuited because of their great strength scatter and poor resistance to mechanicaland thermal shock. Further, many manufacturing processes for composites are well adaptedto the fabrication of large, complex structures, which allows consolidation of parts, reducingmanufacturing costs. In this paper, it is shown that by using compostite material, there is less stress acting on material and if there are surface irregularities or defect present in the material, more stress acting on that defected area which result in failure of material.