Experimental study on biaxial normal-shear interface bonding strength between E-glass and epoxy polymer

Reliable data on the interface strength of fibre-reinforced composites are very few due to limitations of existing experimental approaches.;A series of tests was conducted. The results showed that coupling agent increased the bonding strength. The interface shear strength was found to be much higher than its normal strength. The experiment results also indicated that the compressive normal load was beneficial to the interface's bonding strength. A biaxial normal-shear interface strength envelope between E-glass and an epoxy polymer is obtained based on the combined experimental and FEA method.;In this thesis, a new test approach is proposed for determining the biaxial normal-shear interface strength. The stress singularity is eliminated in the newly designed specimen by a proper bonding angle. The finite element method is used to compute the non-uniform stresses within the specimen and on the interface. An iterative method is proposed to locate the critical point along the interface.