Computational Approach to Modelling Fracture Behaviour of Polypropylene/Talc Composites

Fracture represents one of the major problems associated with the selection and use of engineering materials for high temperature applications. The fracture toughness is of special relevance on the design of components. In this work, the fracture behavior of Polypropylene/Talc composites was studied. From the results of the tensile and flexural tests con-ducted on the composite, scatter diagrams were made using Microsoft Excel to evaluate and show the effect of the addi-tion of the talc filler as it affects the tensile strength, percentage elongation at break, flexural strength and modulus. In order to give additional analysis, the talc filler content effect was presented mathematically to further describe explicitly the various equations associated with each scatter diagram earlier developed using Microsoft Excel. The mathematical expression developed shows the actual talc filler content on the fracture mechanical properties of the sample composite