Onset of matrix cracking in fiber reinforced polymer composites: A historical review and a comparison between periodic unit cell analysis and analytic failure criteria

This paper explains previous studies addressing the onset crack or matrix crack in composite materials and presents a brief history of this field for the understanding of readers. Next, the analytic criterion and periodic unit cell analysis are compared for thermosetting or thermoplastic matrices. For both matrix resins, comparisons show that the Tsai-Hill criterion obviously cannot reproduce the results obtained from the periodic unit cell analysis, and the Hashin and Christensen criteria may give an appropriate failure envelope. Furthermore, macroscopic yielding and nonlinear deformation occur due to the plastic deformation ofmatrix resin before the failure. Thus it is appropriate to consider the elastoplastic or viscoplastic behavior of matrix resin. For thermoplastic resin, macroscopic yielding and nonlinear deformation occur due to the viscoplastic deformation ofmatrix resin much before its failure. Hence nonlinear deformation including creep may be more important than failure for thermoplastic resin.