A novel microbond bundle pullout technique to evaluate the interfacial properties of fibre-reinforced plastic composites

The interfacial properties of the fibre composite systems decide the overall usability of a composite in simple and complex shapes, as they are the deciding factors in determination of the mechanical properties, structural properties and above all a complete understanding of the reliability of composite systems. In the present investigation, the interfacial properties of carbon fibre/epoxy composites viz., matrix shrinkage pressure, interfacial frictional stress, interfacial shear stress and coefficient of friction were evaluated through a novel microbond bundle pullout test. This test is different from the single fibre pull out, fibre fragmentation or the fibre push in test. Based on some of the physical principles involving the single fibre microbond pullout test, like the contact angle of the microbond matrix drop with the fibre surface, the surface tension/energy of the two surfaces before and after adhesion and the interfacial fibre/matrix chemistry, this is simple to perform and statistically averaged mesomechanical test is also easy to evaluate and is shown to be a test method that enables a conservative prediction of the laminate level or macromechanical shear properties of fibre composite systems. This test demonstrates the validity of the mesomechanical tests that are more relevant to the macromechanical tests than the micromechanical tests. Fractography carried out to corroborate the observed mechanical properties with the fracture features is also reported. The general advantages of the mesomechanical interfacial tests over those based on micromechanical assumptions is also discussed along with some common limitations.