Composite Materials

· The behavior of a random glass-fiber reinforced polyester resin matrix is significantly different from the uniaxial system.
· Debonding, and matrix cracking generate the initial cracks that grow and lead to composite fracture. Damage starts at fibers transverse to the tensile axis.
· Each of these processes is statistical rather than determinate and sample to sample variability may be large.

From: Hull, "Introduction to Composite Materials," Cambridge (1992)