FRACTURE OF RANDOM CHOPPED MAT AND WOVEN-ROVING REINFORCED PLASTICS

The fracture behavior is examined for chopped fiber mat and woven roving fiberglass reinforced polyester typical of marine applications. The usefulness of classical fracture mechanics and a generalized stress concentration parameter in predicting fracture for sharply notched members of several sizes up to six inches wide is investigated. Both criteria are found to apply for those laminates which are notch-sensitive, with slightly better accuracy from the generalized stress concentration criterion. The effect of woven roving orientation is severe for laminates without random chopped mat plies, but is only moderate for laminates containing such plies. The relationships between the critical stress intensity factor and the critical strain energy release rate is found to agree with classical theory. The fracture toughness is shown to remain constant for various laminate thicknesses up to two inches.

• Corporate Authors:

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  Department of Ocean Engineering, 77 Massachusetts Avenue
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02139
• Authors:
  • Kashihara, R
• Publication Date: 1974-2

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Fracture properties; Fracture tests; Glass fiber reinforced plastics
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00057109
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Report/Paper Numbers: MS Thesis
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 31 1974 12:00AM