Experimental investigation to evaluate total energy release rate for unidirectional glass/epoxy composite under Mixed mode-I/II load

• Published in: Sadhana (Bangalore) 2020-12, Vol.45 (1), Article 251
• Main Authors: Desai, Abilash, Sharanaprabhu, C M, Kudari, S K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Compact tension; Energy; Energy release rate; Engineering; Glass fibers; Glass-epoxy composites; Hand lay-up; Laminates; Load; Peak load; Radioactivity; Unidirectional composites
• ISSN: 0256-2499; 0973-7677
• DOI: 10.1007/s12046-020-01482-3

In this paper, the total energy release rates for unidirectional glass/epoxy composites were evaluated using Compact Tension Shear (CTS) and Four-Point Bend (FPB) Mixed mode (I/II) fracture specimens. Unidirectional glass fibre laminates were considered for the experimental work. Specimen plates of required thickness were fabricated using hand lay-up technique. The experimental study was conducted for seven loading angles varying from 0° to 90° with an increment of 15° for CTS specimen and 6 crack positions varying from 0 to 1 with an increment of 0.2 for FPB specimen. Load vs. displacement data are plotted to evaluate the peak loads for both the CTS and FPB Mixed mode (I/II) fracture specimens of various loading angles and crack positions, which are utilized to estimate the total energy release rate. It is found that the total energy release rate depends on the loading angle and crack positions for CTS and FPB Mixed mode (I/II) fracture specimens. For a particular load, the total energy release rate is highly dominating in FPB compared with the CTS fracture specimen. Hence, the FPB Mixed mode (I/II) fracture specimen can be preferred over CTS Mixed mode (I/II) fracture specimen to evaluate the total energy release rate.