Professional Documents
Culture Documents
L28 PDF
L28 PDF
Introduction to Composite
Materials and Structures
Nachiketa Tiwari
Nachiketa Tiwari
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Lecture 28
Failure of Unidirectional Composites
Introduction
• Failure of composites is, unlike metals, a complex multi‐stage process.
Failure of a composite sample may get triggered in a certain “mode”, but
its propagation and final failure modes may be significantly different.
• In a large number of cases, composite failure gets initiated internally, and
it is only once failure has propagated beyond a certain extent, that
changes in composite’ss behavior and appearance are observed.
changes in composite behavior and appearance are observed.
• The internal failure of a composite sample could manifest as:
– Breaking of fibers
B ki f fib
– Development of micro‐cracks in matrix
– Debonding between fibers and matrix
– Delamination i e separation of different layers of a laminate
Delamination, i.e. separation of different layers of a laminate
• Here, we explore different failure mechanisms of composites, first at ply
level and subsequently at laminate level
level, and subsequently at laminate level.
Failure of Unidirectional Layers
Failure of Unidirectional Layers
• In many composite samples, before failure occurs at macroscopic scale,
y p p , p ,
the material response changes significantly. This change in material
response, which precedes actual material failure, is a manifestation of a
large number of “micro‐failures”
large number of micro failures as well as non
as well as non‐linear
linear material behavior.
material behavior
• For unidirectional laminates, the stress‐strain behavior is typically linear.
However, as externally applied load exceeds a certain threshold, the
stress‐strain response curve may become increasingly nonlinear. This
“threshold” could be one definition of the failure load of unidirectional
ply.
• Alternatively, the failure load of a unidirectional ply could be the actual
Al i l h f il l d f idi i l l ld b h l
load at which the composite fractures.
Failure of Unidirectional Layers
Failure of Unidirectional Layers
• If failure in unidirectional lamina is considered to be composite material’s
proportional limit, then such a failure criteria ensures a significant margin
of safety.
• However, in a very large number of composites the stress‐strain responses
curve is fairly straight to the point of failure. This is so, because of a
combination of two reasons:
combination of two reasons:
– Most of the fibers used in modern composite laminates exhibit brittle failure.
– The fiber volume fraction in a very large number of composites is maximized, and hence,
the fiber failure and composite failure occur at same load level.
• However, in materials which have either very low fiber volume fraction or
where matrix material is very stiff (vis‐à‐vis fiber), the overall stress‐strain
response of composite may be considered as its proportional limit.
• In following slides, different failure modes of unidirectional layers have
In following slides, different failure modes of unidirectional layers have
been discussed.
Failure of Unidirectional Layer due to
Longitudinal Tension
• When a unidirectional lamina is subjected to increasing tensile force in
j g
longitudinal direction, all fibers do not fail at a specific load level. Rather,
fibers fail in a series of failure events, with the weakest fiber breaking first.
This is because fiber strength is a statistically distributed function
This is because, fiber strength is a statistically distributed function.
• Because of this reason, fiber breakage may initiate at loads sometimes
even less than half of ultimate tensile strength of lamina.
l th h lf f lti t t il t th f l i
• Load borne by broken fibers gets redistributed in the composite, thereby
increasing stresses in unbroken fibers.
• Due to this reason, and also due to increasing load, the number of fibers
D t thi d l d t i i l d th b f fib
breaking at a given load increases. This phenomenon is shown in Fig. 28.1.
Failure of Unidirectional Layer due to
Longitudinal Tension
Fig 28 1: Cumulative Number of Fiber Breaks with Increasing Longitudinal Load
Fig. 28.1: Cumulative Number of Fiber Breaks with Increasing Longitudinal Load
Failure of Unidirectional Layer due to
Longitudinal Tension
• Once number of broken fibers exceeds a certain threshold, the composite
may become too weak at a specific cross‐section to bear any further
increment in load.
increment in load.
• At this point, the unidirectional lamina breaks into two parts. Such a
f il
failure can occur in at least three different failure modes. These are:
i t l t th diff t f il d Th
– Brittle failure of fibers: In such a mode, the fiber exhibits brittle failure.
– Brittle failure of fibers with fiber pullout: In such a mode, the fiber not only exhibits
brittle failure, but also pulls out of matrix due to debonding of fiber and matrix.
– Brittle failure of fibers accompanied with fiber pullout, as well as shear failure at
l f l ffb d hfb ll ll h f l
interface‐matrix location, and/or matrix debonding from fibers.
• A schematic depiction of these three failure modes are shown in Fig. 28.2.
h d f h h f l d h
Failure of Unidirectional Layer due to
Longitudinal Tension
Fig. 28.2: Different Failure Modes of a Unidirectional Lamina in Longitudinal Tension
Fig 28 2: Different Failure Modes of a Unidirectional Lamina in Longitudinal Tension
(Left: Brittle Failure, Center: Brittle Failure with Fiber Pullout, Right: Brittle Failure with
Debonding and/or Matrix Cracking)
Failure of Unidirectional Layer due to
Longitudinal Tension
• Glass fibers are very brittle, and their composites, especially with low fiber
volume fractions tend to exhibit brittle fiber failure.
• Glass fibers with moderate fiber volume fraction (between 40% and 65%)
exhibit brittle fiber failure with fiber pullout.
• Glass fiber composites with high fiber volume fractions exhibit the third
mode of failure i e brittle fiber failure accompanied with fiber pullout as
mode of failure, i.e. brittle fiber failure accompanied with fiber pullout, as
well as shear failure at interface‐matrix location, and/or matrix debonding
from fibers.
• Graphite fiber composites however exhibit second and third modes of
failure.
R f
References
2
2. Mechanics
M h i off Composite
C i Materials,
M i l Jones,
J R M.,
R. M Mc‐Graw
M G
Hill.