Experimental and Finite Element Analysis of Fracture Parameters of woven Glass/Epoxy Composite

In recent years, Composites are rapidly developing and replacing metals or alloys in numerous Engineering applications as automobiles, Marine Engineering, Aerospace, etc. Due to their properties like resistance to wear, corrosion, high stiffness and strength for reduced weight, superior fatigue characteristics, etc. This study, aimed to analyze the fracture toughness of glass fiber epoxy composite by analyzing the specimen in commercial finite element package in ANSYS environment and there by validating it through experiment. For the experimental process, the glass–epoxy composites plate has been fabricated by hand layup process considering epoxy resin as the matrix and woven roving as the reinforcement. The composite specimens are tested by performing a SENB (single edge notch bend) test to study the fracture toughness and the crack propagation of the glass fiber epoxy composite. The comparison showed good agreement.