Free-Edge Delamination in Layered Composites: A Historical Review of the Past 30 Years

In the inaugural issue of the Journal of Composite Materials in January, 1967, Editor S.W. Tsai elaborated in the Editorial the purpose and mission of his Journal. In it, interdisciplinary approaches to the basic problems of composites were emphasized. In particular, it called for the metallurgist and polymer chemist to face the problems of microscopic complex stresses and macroscopic material anisotropy, and for the elastician to go beyond the idealized elasticity problems, in order to include such real and practical effects as random fiber packing, imperfect interfacial bond, material inelasticity and fracture; only a close coupling of these disciplines could make the advancing composites technology fulfill it’s glowing promise.