Interlaminar mode-II fracture toughness of a glass-fiber epoxy laminate

In this work fracture mechanics and experimental mechanics approaches were used to characterize mode-II interlaminar fracture of a glass-fibre reinforced epoxy (GRFP) laminate. Mode-II interlaminar fracture toughness was characterized by using the end-notched flexure (ENF) test. The ENF-specimen was modelled by using both analytical (beam theory) and numerical (finite-element method) approaches. Calculated results were compared to experimental ones and the interlaminar mode-II fracture toughness of the particular laminate was determined. In the particular case the ENF-test is suitable for characterization the interlaminar fracture toughness