After a successful series of 6 workshops (click to access) and publishing a book chapter on defining and measuring the strength of composites, we are now organising the next series of workshops that will focus on the fracture toughness of composites. Our first workshop within this series will focus on whether the fracture toughness of composites is applicable as a material parameter and will be held on 14 November 2023.

Later workshops will explore interlaminar and translaminar fracture toughness in different modes.

• Topic: Is fracture toughness applicable as a material property for composites?
• Date: 14 November, 2023
• Time: 2:00 PM — UK Time

Fee & audience: free and open to all.

Register here

 

The workshop will be an opportunity for everyone to comment on which aspects you agree or disagree on, on best practices, and what alternative ideas you might like to put forward. We have drafted a short paper to outline the key issues and as a starting point for discussions.

Agenda

The event will be held on Zoom.
Note: the agenda is in UK time, so do not forget to convert into your own timezone. 

• 2:00 PM  – Meeting introduction – Yentl Swolfs
• 2:05 PM – Topic presentation - Michael Wisnom, Yentl Swolfs and Federico Paris
• 2:20 PM – 5 minute presentations
• 3:10 PM – Panel member questions and comments (live)
• 3:30 PM – Break
• 3:40 PM – Open discussion (Q&A or raising hands)
• 4:40 PM – Conclusions, suggestions for next steps and topics for next workshops
• 5.00 PM – End of meeting

Workshop Programme: 

5-minute presentations

• Toughness and fracture toughness of interfaces in composites - Ramesh Talreja (Texas A&M University) Ramesh Talreja (PDF, 1,159kB)‌
• Composites in the aerospace industry. Is fracture mechanics a solution for the future? - Jose Antonio Rodriguez (Airbus) Jose Antonia Rodriguez (PDF, 2,009kB)‌
• Ply-thickness effect in translaminar fracture - Silvestre Pinho (Imperial College London) Silvestre Pinho (PDF, 5,379kB)‌
• Is there a ply thickness effect on the mode I intralaminar fracture toughness of composite laminates? - Carolina Furtado (University of Porto) Carolina Furtardo (PDF, 448kB)‌
• Is Fracture Toughness Useful for Linking Processing Conditions to In-Service Requirements? - Anoush Poursartip (University of British Colombia) Anoush Poursartip (PDF, 1,319kB)‌
• Softening the Gap between Strength and Toughness - Carlos Davila (NASA) Carlos Davila (PDF, 2,642kB)‌
• Can R-curve and Fracture Toughness be considered material properties for Composites? - Albert Turon (University of Girona) Albert Turon (PDF, 5,676kB)‌
• Does it really matter whether delamination toughness of polymer composites is a material parameter? - Andreas J. Brunner (retired from Empa) Andreas J Brunner (PDF, 1,104kB)‌