Failure of Glass-Epoxy Lamina - Fractographic Study

Abstract

Scanning-electron microscope (SEM) investigation of the failure surfaces provides information on bidimensional state of stress under which failure of unidirectional fiber reinforced material occurred. The failure occurs by debonding between fibers and matrix for the cases of pure shear and shear + compression bidimensional state of stress. The multitude of small pieces of broken matrix is characteristic for the last case. The matrix failure is observed for the case of shear + tension.