Composites Crack bifurcation

The important case of specimens with a fixed total thickness was considered in Ref. [40]. There are certain features of crack bifurcation under these conditions, such as that if the sample with a fixed total thickness has too large a number of layers there will be no bifurcation. Layer thickness and composition are important and efficient parameters to control the bifurcation in laminates. The effect is comparable with a crack bridging phenomenon [21], The bifurcation mechanism increases the laminate fracture toughness by approximately 1.5-2 times. 

Design of layered composites with crack bifurcation in compressed layers... 

Lugovy, M., Orlovskaya, N., Slyunayev, V., Gogotsi, G., Kuebler, J., Sanchez-Herencia, A., Crack bifurcation features in laminar specimens with fixed total thickness, Composite Sci. Tech., 62, 819-830, 2002. 

Elshishini, S. S., and Elnashaie, S. S. E. H. Digital simulations of industrial fluid catalytic cracking units— II. Eflect of charge stock composition on bifurcation and gasoline yield. Chem. Eng. Sci. 45(9), 2959-2964, 1990. 

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