Investigation of fiber bridging in double cantilever beam specimens

The possibility to eliminate fiber bridging or at least to reduce it, and to evaluate an alternative approach for determination of in situ mode 7 fracture toughness values of composite matrix materials were investigated. Double cantilver beam (DCB) specimens were made using unidirectional lay-ups of T6C/Hx205 composite material in which the delaminating halves were placed at angles of 0, 1.5, and 3 degrees to each other. The small angles between the delaminating plies were used to avoid fiber nesting without significantly affecting mode I teflon insert. The DCB specimens were fabricated and it was found that: (1) the extent which fiber bridging and interlaminar toughness increase with crack length can be reduced by slight cross ply at the delamination plane to reduce fiber nesting; (2) some fiber bridging may occur even in the absence of fiber nesting; (3) the first values of toughness measured ahead of the thin teflon insert are very close to the toughness of the matrix material with no fiber bridging; (4) thin adhesive bondline of matrix material appears to give toughness values equal to the interlaminar toughness of the composite matrix without fiber bridging.