Abstract
The technological advancement of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) has enabled innovative and complex use of the composites in the aerospace industry. Due to the time and cost of performing numerous physical experiments, finite element (FE) modeling tools for CFRP damage evolution and characterization are necessary. Interlaminar delamination is a structurally significant damage event in composites. This study investigates DCB and ENF experiments to characterize the fracture toughness of hybrid M21 CFRPs containing both unidirectional tape and woven lamina. The results of this study are combined with previous studies to define the interface properties of tape-tape interfaces, weave-weave interfaces, and hybrid interfaces with varying ply angle orientations. The experiments are recreated using cohesive modeling within a finite element framework to numerically characterize the cohesive strength and fracture toughness for each interface combination. This information lays the groundwork for future numerical predictions of structural configurations manufactured using M21 hybrid composites.
