Experimental investigation of delamination growth in laminated composites made of woven fabric/epoxy with 0//? Interface

In this study, the effect of delamination interface fiber angle orientation on the initiation and propagation fracture toughness of plain woven composites with stacking sequences of [012//012], [011/30//0/011] and [011/45//0/011] under mode I loading were investigated. These stacking sequences are chosen in order to eliminate the effect of the remote ply orientation on the delamination behavior of the double cantilever beam (DCB) specimens. Samples were manufactured by the wet hand lay-up method and fracture tests were conducted on specimens using the universal testing machine (SANTAM STM-150) according to ASTM standard. The experimental results showed that the interface ply orientation had a negligible effect on magnitudes of the initiation and propagation fracture toughness of plain woven composites due to delamination propagation in the resin-fiber interface of delamination interface. Experimental investigations of the fracture surface have shown the effect of different mechanisms on the delamination propagation, which crack propagation in the resin-fiber interface is one of the main mechanisms for increasing the fracture toughness in these specimens. In addition, the experimental evidence revealed that the fiber bridging was not the main mechanism of increasing fracture toughness during the delamination propagation, unlike the unidirectional DCB specimens.