Fragmentation of beaded fibres in a composite

The fibre-matrix interface plays an important role in the overall mechanical behaviour of a fibre-reinforced composite, but the classical approach to improving the interface through chemical sizing is bounded by the materials’ properties. By contrast, structural and/or geometrical modification of the interface may provide mechanical interlocking and have wider possibilities and benefits. Here we investigate the introduction of polymer beads along the interface of a fibre and validate their contribution by a single fibre fragmentation test. Using glass fibres and the same epoxy system for both matrix and beads, an increase of 17.5% is observed in the interfacial shear strength of the beaded fibres compared to fibres with no polymer beads. This increase should lead to a similar improvement in the strength and toughness of a beaded fibre composite when short fibres are used. The beads were also seen to stabilise the fragmentation process of a fibre by reducing the scatter in fragment density at a given strain. A case could also be made for a critical beads number—4 beads in our experimental system—to describe interfacial shear strength, analogous to a critical length used in fibre composites.

Subjects

interface

beaded fibre composite

structural modification

mechanical interlocking

fragmentation test

DDC Class

540: Chemie

600: Technik

620: Ingenieurwissenschaften

Publication version

publishedVersion

Lizenz

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Name

materials-15-00890-v4.pdf

Size

5.36 MB

Format

Adobe PDF

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Fragmentation of beaded fibres in a composite