Mode I interlaminar fracture toughness of CFRP laminates reinforced with short aramid fibers

Adhesive bonding has been applied successfully in many technologies. The short aramid fibers can be effectively embedded in interface layer wit adhesive-rich regions of the CFRP fabrics with carbon fibers oriented at 0 degrees and 90 degrees to form a strong pulling resistance. In this paper, the interface toughness of carbon fiber composite reinforced by aramid short fiber is studied based on the mode I crack growth test of double cantilever beam. The effort of the length and density of aramid short fiber on the interface toughness of carbon fiber composite are discussed. The test result shows that the best bonding strength is obtained at the condition of the aramid fibers with the length of 3 mm at the density of 24 g/m(2). The ultimate load and the Mode I interlaminar fracture toughness are improved by 292.87% and 168.59%, respectively. The crack propagation path and fracture effect are analyzed and compared by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) observations.