Mechanics of kinking in fiber-reinforced composites under compressive loading

A novel approach to analyze kink banding failure in fiber reinforced composites is presented in this paper. By considering a single fiber–matrix unit cell and utilizing a fiber deformation representation that can simultaneously account for instability due to increasing fiber amplitude and fiber rotation, a sequence of events that lead to the formation of a kink band is elucidated. It is shown that peak compressive strength does not necessarily...