Interlaminar fracture toughness of flax-epoxy composites

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of fibre architectures on the interlaminar fracture toughness and tensile toughness of flax fibre epoxy composites. The fracture toughness was investigated for both Mode I (G(IC)) and Mode II (G(IIC)) for seven flax-epoxy architectures: one plain weave, two twill 2x2 weaves, a quasi-unidirectional and a unidirectional architecture, the UD's being tested in both [0,90] and [90,0] composite lay-ups. The results of the Mode I and Mode II showed promising results of the flax-epoxy composite performance. The addition of flax fibre increases the G(IC) and G(IIC) of the composites over that of the unreinforced brittle polymer by at least two to three times. Further improvements are made with the use of woven textiles. The tensile toughness was found to be a good indicator of the capacity of a material to sustain perforation or non-perforation impact.