Influence of fiber morphology in pull-out process of chain-shaped fiber reinforced polymer composites

Chain-shaped short nylon 6 fibers and their polymer composites were prepared, and single fiber pull-out tests for different embedded depths were carried out to reveal the influence of the chain-shape geometry on the properties of the composites. A particular phenomenon of multiple peaks in the pulling-out load vs. displacement curves was observed which is not seen for normal straight short fibers, and the number of the peaks was found to be closely related to the number of repeated units, as well as the embedded length of the chain-shaped fiber in the matrix, resulting in the improvement of the toughness and strength of the composites.