Fiber bridging effect on in-plane-shear mode crack extension resistance of unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites

The fiber bridging effect, which affects the crack extension resistance in fibrous composites, is discussed in the case of in-plane-shear mode crack extension parallel to fibers in unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites. We first make a model of the bridging of a single fiber and estimate the force acting on the crack surface through a bridging fiber. Then, introducing the stochastic process of fiber breakage, we obtain the quantitative relationship between the relative crack surface displacement and the equivalent cohesive stress which is the probabilistic expectation of forces acting on the crack surface through a large number of bridging fibers. We numerically simulate the crack extension behavior with the equivalent cohesive stress acting on the crack surface. Then the simulated results are consistent with the experimental results. We finally conclude that the in-plane-shear mode crack extension is greatly affected by the stochastic process of fiber breakage. © (2010) Trans Tech Publications.