A single fracture toughness parameter for fibrous composite laminates

A general fracture toughness parameter Qc was previously derived and verified to be a material constant, independent of layup, for centrally cracked boron aluminum composite specimens. The specimens were made with various proportions of 0 and + or - 45 degree plies. A limited amount of data indicated that the ratio Qc/epsilon tuf' where epsilon tuf is the ultimate tensile strain of the fibers, might be a constant for all composite laminates, regardless of material and layup. In that case, a single value of Qc/epsilon tuf could be used to predict the fracture toughness of all fibrous composite laminates from only the elastic constants and epsilon tuf. Values of Qc/epsilon tuf were calculated for centrally cracked specimens made from graphite/polyimide, graphite/epoxy, E glass/epoxy, boron/epoxy, and S glass graphite/epoxy materials with numerous layups. Within ordinary scatter, the data indicate that Qc/epsilon tuf is a constant for all laminates that did not split extensively at the crack tips or have other deviate failure modes.