Fracture of Composite Materials

This lecture covers the fracture mechanics of composite materials, focusing on the specific characteristics and test requirements of fiber-reinforced plastics. It discusses the importance of fiber aspect ratio, fiber volume fraction, and fiber-matrix adhesion in determining the mechanical properties of composites. The lecture also explores different failure modes in brittle and ductile matrices, delamination failure, and the effect of constrained plasticity on fracture energy. Examples of catastrophic composite failures and fracture testing methods are presented, highlighting the challenges and significance of intralaminar fracture testing.

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MSE-424: Fracture of materials

This course covers elementary fracture mechanics and its application to the fracture of engineering materials.

Fracture toughness

In materials science, fracture toughness is the critical stress intensity factor of a sharp crack where propagation of the crack suddenly becomes rapid and unlimited. A component's thickness affects the constraint conditions at the tip of a crack with thin components having plane stress conditions and thick components having plane strain conditions. Plane strain conditions give the lowest fracture toughness value which is a material property.

Fracture mechanics

Fracture mechanics is the field of mechanics concerned with the study of the propagation of cracks in materials. It uses methods of analytical solid mechanics to calculate the driving force on a crack and those of experimental solid mechanics to characterize the material's resistance to fracture. Theoretically, the stress ahead of a sharp crack tip becomes infinite and cannot be used to describe the state around a crack. Fracture mechanics is used to characterise the loads on a crack, typically using a single parameter to describe the complete loading state at the crack tip.

Fracture

Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displacement develops perpendicular to the surface, it is called a normal tensile crack or simply a crack; if a displacement develops tangentially, it is called a shear crack, slip band or dislocation. Brittle fractures occur without any apparent deformation before fracture.

Failure mode and effects analysis

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA; often written with "failure modes" in plural) is the process of reviewing as many components, assemblies, and subsystems as possible to identify potential failure modes in a system and their causes and effects. For each component, the failure modes and their resulting effects on the rest of the system are recorded in a specific FMEA worksheet. There are numerous variations of such worksheets.

Composite material

A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a material with properties unlike the individual elements. Within the finished structure, the individual elements remain separate and distinct, distinguishing composites from mixtures and solid solutions.

Fracture Mechanics: Crack Growth and Stability MSE-424: Fracture of materials

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Explores fracture mechanics, crack growth, and the weakest link theory, emphasizing the statistical distribution of crack sizes and the significance of the largest crack in material failure.

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Explores the mechanics and failure mechanisms of composite materials, including matrix cracking, fiber breakage, and delamination.

Fracture Mechanics: Time-Dependent Behavior MSE-424: Fracture of materials

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