A Mode I cohesive law characterization procedure for through-the-thickness crack propagation in composite laminates

A method is proposed for the experimental characterization of through-the-thickness damage propagation in multidirectional carbon fiber reinforced polymer laminates. The compact tension specimen configuration is used to propagate damage stably while load and full-field displacements are recorded. These measurements are used to compute the fracture toughness and crack opening displacement from which a trilinear cohesive law is characterized. The...