Three kinds of unsaturated polyester resins having different toughness were used as the matrix of GFRP and their influences on the fracture toughness of GFRP were investigated.
The crack propagation behaviour in a mat-GFRP could be classified into three categories: Region I with a linear relationship between load and crack opening displacement, without any crack propagation and damage initiation in the vicinity of crack tip; Region II with stable crack propagation, accompanied by fiber pull out or breakeage near the crack; Region III with rapid unstable crack propagation and load dropping after reaching its maximum load.
The fracture toughness values,
Ki and
Kmax, which are related to the stable and unstable crack propagation respectively, did not depend on the ratio of initial crack size to the width of specimens,
a0/
W. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider them as material properties.
The
Ki value, different from the
Kmax value, was dependent on the fracture toughness of the matrix resins. This suggests that the fracture toughness, related closely to the stable crack propagation or the initiation of damage in the GFRP, is mainly affected by the fracture toughness of the matrix resins, while the final fracture related to the
Kmax value of GFRP is deternined by the glass fiber.
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