Abstract
There is a knee point on the stress-strain curve of tensile test on woven fabric composite. It is said that initial fracture occurred at the knee point. In order to know the initial fracture behavior, evaluation of knee point by using least squares method was performed and knee point stress and strain could be evaluated quantitatively. By observation through optical microscope, fracture process was as follows; transverse crack initiated at the 1st knee point, then propagate through the weft fiber bundle at the 2nd knee point. Moreover, effect of weaving structure on initial fracture behavior was considered. It needs more energy to propagate the crack in satin woven fabric composites than in plain woven fabric due to different weaving structure.
