Glass Fiber/Matrix Interfacial Strength Evaluated by Cruciform Specimen Method Considering Inelastic Constitutive Equation of the Matrix

Abstract

This study aims obtaining a precise strength of a glass fiber/ epoxy resin interface by taking inelastic constitutive equation which might be very important factor to be considered. A cruciform specimen method is one of the reasonable tests to investigate interfacial strength. Varying the cruciform (arm's) angles, the interfacial failure criterion under combined stress-state can be obtained. However, when the interfacial strength is beyond the matrix yield stress, inelastic stress analysis must be done in order to obtain the interfacial strength precisely. In this study, the inelastic analysis is performed and the effect on experimentally-obtained results is discussed.