INTERPRETATION OF FIBER FRAGMENTATION IN CARBON EPOXY SINGLE FIBER COMPOSITES - POSSIBLE FIBER PRE-TENSION EFFECTS

The fiber straightening pre-tension applied during the sample preparation of single fiber composites is suggested here to significantly affect the number of fragments as well as the value of the Kelly-Tyson interface shear strength obtained from single filament composite tests. This implies that fragmentation tests performed under seemingly identical conditions, but in which the fiber pre-tension is not accurately controlled during sample preparation, might yield widely differing experimental results. We present and discuss a new set of experimental results dealing with fiber pre-tension effects in carbon/epoxy single fiber composites.