Issue 53

A. Desai et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 53 (2020) 426-433; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.53.33 426 Glass/epoxy fiber orientation effects on translaminar fracture toughness under Mixed mode(I/II) load using FPB specimen Abilash Desai Department of Mechanical Engineering, SDMCET, Dharwad, Karnataka, India abilashdesai@gmail.com C. M. Sharanaprabhu Department of Mechanical Engineering, PESITM, Shivamogga, Karnataka, India cmsharanaprabhu@rediffmail.com S. K. Kudari Department of Mechanical Engineering, CVR College of Engineering, Hyderabad, Telangana, India s.kudari@rediffmail.com A BSTRACT . To study glass/epoxy fiber orientation effects on translaminar fracture toughness under Mixed mode(I/II) load using asymmetric Four Point Bend specimen. Fracture toughness values for different fiber-oriented glass/epoxy laminates under Mixed modes are compared with unidirectional glass/epoxy laminates. Specimens were fabricated using hand layup technique with (0/45)° and (0/90)° fiber oriented glass fiber. The experimental study was conducted for 6 crack positions varying from s/d=0(Mode-II) to 1(Mode-1) with an increment of 0.2 for Four Point Bend specimen. The specimens were tested under universal testing machine to obtain peak loads and further evaluate fracture toughness. The experimental test results show fracture toughness can be increased by orienting the fiber in the laminate. Fracture toughness is highly dominating for (0/90)° fiber-oriented laminates compared to 0° and (0/45)° glass/epoxy laminates. K EYWORDS . Asymmetric Four Point Bend; Stress Intensity Factor; Mixed mode I/II. Citation: Desai, A., Sharanaprabhu, C.M. Kudari, S.K., Glass/epoxy fiber orientation effects on translaminar fracture toughness under Mixed mode(I/II) load using FPB specimen, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 53 (2020) 426-433. Received: 22.04.2020 Accepted: 25.05.2020 Published: 01.07.2020 Copyright: © 2020 This is an open access article under the terms of the CC-BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. I NTRODUCTION racture mechanics role in providing engineers and researchers with vital informations for designing and prediction of crack initiation and orientation with its propagation path under Mixed-mode loading is desirable for life prediction of engineering materials [1,2]. Major failure modes revealed that laminated composite undergoes interlaminar, intralaminar and translaminar fracture. For translaminar fracture, very limited research has been carried out. F