Evaluation of carbon fiber/epoxy interfacial strength in transverse fiber bundle composite: Experiment and multiscale failure modeling

This work aims at calculating the fiber/matrix interfacial strength in the transverse fiber bundle (TFB) composite. The TFB specimens made up of carbon fiber bundles and epoxy resin were prepared and tested. The multiscale failure analysis based on the Generalized Method of Cells (GMC) was presented and the progressive damage progress of TFB composite under transverse tensile loading was simulated. Interfacial debonding was experimentally and theoretically proved to be the dominated failure mechanism in the TFB test. The interfacial normal strength could be determined by the combination of the experimental and analytical results.