Fracture Toughness of Glass-Carbon (0/90)_s Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite – An Experimental and Numerical Study

P.S. Shivakumar Gouda, S.K. Kudari, S. Prabhuswamy, Dayananda Jawali

Department of Mechanical Engineering, SDM College of Engineering & Technology,Dharwad-580002, Karnataka, India.
Research Center, SJCE, Mysore-570006, Karnataka, India..
Research Scholar, SJCE, Mysore, Karnataka & Department of Mechanical Engineering,SDM College of Engineering & Technology, Dharwad-580002, Karnataka, India.

DOI: 10.4236/jmmce.2011.108052                

Abstract

Mode-I fracture behavior of glass-carbon fiber reinforced hybrid polymer composite was investigated based on experimental and finite element analysis. The compact tension (CT) specimen was employed to conduct mode-I fracture test using special loading fixtures as per ASTM standards. Fracture toughness was determined experimentally for along and across the fiber orientation of the specimen. Results indicated that the cracked specimens are tougher along the fiber orientations as compared with across the fiber orientations. A similar fracture test was simulated using finite element analysis software ANSYS. Critical stress intensity factor (K) was calculated at fracture/failure using displacement extrapolation method, for both along and across the fiber orientations. The fractured surfaces of the glasscarbon epoxy composite under mode-I loading condition was examined by electron microscope.

Keywords

Hybrid polymer composite, Mode -I fracture toughness, Stress intensity factor, Finite element analysis.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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