A comprehensive description of interfibre failure in fibre reinforced composites

• A comprehensive analysis of interfibre failure in fibre reinforced composites is carried out.
• The phenomena of fibre/matrix debonding and matrix failure are considered.
• The influence of the main material and geometrical parameters are highlighted.
• Theoretical results are compared to experimental data from the literature.

In the present work a comprehensive analysis of interfibre failure in fibre reinforced composites is carried out, considering the phenomena of fibre/matrix debonding and matrix failure and highlighting the influence of the relevant material and geometrical parameters.In particular it is made evident the existence of a specific value of the fibre radius, Rf∗, which allows one to discern whether the fibre/matrix debonding is a stress-driven or an energy-driven interface process. At the same time the existence of a second limit value, Rf0Rf0, smaller than Rf∗, is argued, which provides the condition for the transition from interface to matrix failure.A comparison to some experimental data from the literature on glass/epoxy composites validates the analyses presented in the paper.