ABSTRACT
This chapter is dedicated to fracture and fatigue of unidirectional fiber composites with continuous fibers. More precisely, it considers the case of ductile matrix and high-strength, however rather brittle, fibers. The chapter discusses more conventional materials such as glass-epoxy and carbon-epoxy unidirectional composites with the detailed analysis of mechanisms of fracture and fatigue of these materials. Mechanics of fracture and fatigue of composite materials and composite structures is a very special section of fracture mechanics. Patterns of damage accumulation, fatigue crack initiation and propagation in composites significantly differ from those in conventional structural materials such as metallic alloys. In some aspects, mathematical modeling of fracture and fatigue is more necessary for composites than for conventional materials. Experimental data on fatigue and fracture of composites are scarce compared with those for metallic alloys. Several types of cracks are met in unidirectional fiber composites with comparatively weak matrix.
