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Materials Science and Engineering A194 (1995) 157-163

Crack propagation behaviour during three-point bending of polymer

matrix composite/AlzO3/polymer matrix composite laminated
composites
S . H . H o n g a, H . Y . K i m a, J . R . L e e b

aDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 373-1
Kusung-dong, Yusung-gu, Taejon, South Korea
bpolymer Composite Research Laboratory, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, 100 Jang-dong,
Yusung-gu, Taejon, South Korea
Received 2 May 1994; in revised form 2 August 1994

Abstract
The crack propagation behaviour during three-point bending of a monolithic A1203 and PMC/AI2OJPMC (where PMC denotes
polymer matrix composite) laminated composites have been investigated. The laminated composites were fabricated by bonding two
PMC layers on both sides of an AI203 plate. Carbon-epoxy and aramid-epoxy composites with two different stacking sequences, i.e.
carbon(0/90)4 (C(0/90)), carbon( + 4 5 / - 45)4 (C( + 4 5 / - 45)), aramid(0/90)4 (A(0/90)) and aramid( + 4 5 / - 45)4 (A( + 4 5 / - 45)), were
laminated with A1203 plate. The total fracture energy of the PMC/AIzO3/PMC laminated composite increased more than two orders
of magnitude compared with that of monolithic AI203.The three-point bending process of the PMC/A1203/PMClaminated composite
could be divided into three regimes related to the crack initiation and propagation. The PMC/AIzO3/PMC laminated composite
deformed elastically in regime I. A crack was initiated and opened in the A1203 layer in regime II, and the outer PMC layer were
deformed without complete debonding at A1203-PMC interface in regime III. The crack initiation stress at AI203 layer is proportional
to the elastic modulus of PMC and the energy absorbed in regime I is the energy for elastic deformation of PMC/AIzO3/PMC
laminated composites. The C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90 ) and A(O/90)/A1203/A(O/90) composites, in which the laminated PMCs have
higher flexural stress and modulus, fractured by the debonding at the AI203-PMC interface. The C( + 4 5 / - 45)/A1203/C ( + 4 5 / - 45)
and A( +45/- 45)/A1203A( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) composites, in which the laminated PMCs have lower flexural stress and modulus, did not
debond at the A1203-PMC interface but fractured by the deformation of PMC layer.

Keywords: Cracking; Aluminium; Oxygen; Composites; Polymers; Laminates

1. Introduction
Ceramic materials are attractive for their excellent
resistance to heat and wear with high specific strength
and good oxidation resistance. However, the major
problem of using ceramics as structural materials is
their inherent brittleness. T h e r e have been many
studies on ceramic matrix composites in order to
enhance the toughness through composite toughening
by the addition of reinforcements. Two different kinds
of ceramic matrix composites have been focused on.
Firstly, the fibre-reinforced ceramic matrix composites,
such as S i C - A I 2 0 3 [1], SiC-Si3N 4 [2], C - A 1 2 0 3 [3],
SiC-glass [4] and C-glass [5], exhibited much better

fracture toughness than monolithic ceramics. Various

toughening mechanisms in ceramic matrix composites
are suggested such as crack deflection [6], fibre pull-out
[7], fibre bridging [8] and matrix microcracking [9],
which are dependent on the composite systems.
Secondly, it is reported that the laminated composites
displayed a much enhanced fracture toughness. Clegg
et al. [10] reported that the fracture energy is measured
as 6 kJ m-2 in SiC/SiC laminated composite compared
with 28 J m-2 in monolithic SiC. T h e enhancement of
the fracture toughness in laminated composites is
known to be related to the crack deflection at the interfaces [11]. It is also reported that the fracture toughness
of metallic glass/brass laminated composites increased

0921-5093/95/$9.50 1995 - Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved

SSDI 0921-5093(94)09677-5

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S.H. Hong et al. / MaterialsScience and EngineeringA194 (1995) 157-163

considerably compared with the monolithic metallic

glass [12,13]. The toughening mechanism of a metal/
ceramic laminated composite is known to be related to
the crack tip shielding caused by the ductile phase and
the crack deflection at the ceramic-metal interface

[a3].
In this study, the crack propagation behaviour
during three-point bending of a monolithic A1203
specimen and PMC/AlzO3/PMC (where PMC denotes
polymer matrix composite) laminated composite were
investigated. The laminated composites were fabricated by bonding two PMC layers on both sides of
an AI203 plate. Four different laminated composites,
C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90),
C( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) /
A1203/C(+45/-45), A(O/90)/AI203/A(O/90 ) and
A( +45/-45)/AI203/A( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) , where C(0/90)
denotes
carbon(0/90)4,
C(+45/-45)
denotes
carbon( + 45/-45)4, A(0/90) denotes aramid(0/90)4
and A ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) denotes aramid( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) 4 , were
fabricated using two types of prepregs stacked with
different sequences. The crack initiation and propagation characteristics in each layer of the PMC/A1203/
PMC laminated composites were investigated during
three-point bend tests. The effect of a PMC layer on
the crack initiation stress and the crack propagation
mode in PMC/A1203/PMC laminated composites was
discussed. The effect of the properties of PMC layers
on fracture energies of the PMC/AI203/PMC laminated composites was analysed.

2. Experimental details

An epoxy system composed of 100 parts of tetraglycidyl ether of diaminodiphenyl methane (MY720
from Ciba Geigy), 27 parts of 4.4'-diaminodiphenyl
sulphone and 1 part of boron trifluoride monoethyl
amine was formulated to impregnate fibre mats. Two
types of fibre mats, plain woven carbon fabric (6644B
from Toray Industries) and plain woven aramid fabric
(T240 from Teijin), were used. Four plies of the fabrics
were stacked with two different stacking sequences
(0/90)4 and ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) 4 . The prepregs were cured in
an autoclave at 120 C for 45 min followed by 170 C
for 2 h. The autoclave pressure was maintained at 0.5
MPa during curing. A vacuum bagging procedure was
employed to cure the prepregs.
PMC/AIzO3/PMC laminated composites were
fabricated by bonding two layers of 1.2 mm thick
PMCs on both sides of 3.8 mm thick A1203 plate using
an adhesive (American Cyanamid FM123-2). Sintered
AI203 plates with purity of 98.5% were used. The cure
condition used to bond PMC with A120 3 plate was
80C for 30 rain followed by 150C for 3 h in
an autoclave. Four different laminated composites

C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90), C( + 4 5 / - 45)/A1203/C ( + 45/

-45), A(0/90)AI203/(0/90 ) and A ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) /
A1203/A ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) were fabricated. The notation C
means the carbon fibre reinforced PMC and notation A
means the aramid fibre reinforced PMC.
Three-point bend tests were carried out for PMCs,
monolithic AI203 and PMC/AlzO3/PMC laminated
composites using an Instron tensile testing machine
with a constant cross-head speed of 1 mm min- 1 to the
crack arrest direction. The dimensions of three-point
bending specimens were 10 mm wide, 50 mm long and
1.2 mm thick for the PMCs, 10 mm wide, 50 mm long
and 3.8 mm thick for the monolithic AI203 and 10 mm
wide, 50 mm long and 6.5 mm thick for the PMC/
A1203/PMC composites.

3. Results and discussion

The stress-strain curves obtained from the threepoint bend tests of the monolithic Al203 and PMC/
A1203/PMC laminated composites are shown in Fig. 1.
The monolithic A1203 was deformed elastically to a
maximum stress (flexural strength) and then fractured
catastrophically as shown in Fig. l(a). The laminated
composites exhibited an increased maximum stress and
ductility, which resulted in a marked increase in the
fracture toughness. Figs. l(b)-l(e) show the threepoint bending behaviour of the PMC/AI203/PMC
laminated composites. The three-point bending behaviour of the PMC/A1203/PMC composites was affected
by the type of fibre and the stacking sequences of
prepregs in the PMC. The C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90 ) and
A(0/90)/AI203/A(0/90 ) composites exhibited catastrophic stress drop after maximum stress, while a
considerable amount of plastic deformation was
observed after maximum stress in the C ( + 4 5 /
- 4 5 ) A 1 2 0 3 / C ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) and A ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) / A I 2 0 3 /
A( + 4 5 / - 45) composites.
The elastic modulus and the flexural strength of
A1203 and PMCs measured by three-point bend tests
are listed in Table 1. Carbon fibre reinforced PMCs
have a higher elastic modulus and flexural strength
than aramid fibre reinforced PMCs. The elastic
modulus and flexural strength of (0/90) lay-up PMCs
are higher than those of ( + 4 5 / - 45) lay-up PMCs.
The crack propagation behaviour in the PMC/
AIzO3/PMC laminated composites during the threepoint bend tests is shown in Fig. 2. The crack
propagation in the PMC/AIzO3/PMC laminated composites was sensitively affected by the characteristics of
the PMC. A crack was initiated and propagated in the
A1203 layer initially, and then followed by
AI203-PMC interface debonding and plastic deformation of the PMC layer when the crack reached an

S.H. Hong et al.

0.

Materials Science and Engineering A194 (1995) 157-163

400

400

300

300

400

2OO

Io

I O0

ooo' o.oos

'

o.o~o

200

1O0

100 ~

~o.oo

o.o2o

o.os

0.20

'6.00

O.lS

o.zo

Strain, m m / m m

300

0.05

O0.O0

o.io

(c)

i~

oot./

o.os

400

300

O.lS

(b)

,oo[
W

o.1o

Strain, m m / m m

Strain, m m / m m

(a)

lJ

200

' O.OlS

300

G.

Ii
o

159

0.10

0,15

0.20

Strain, m m / m m

'

0 O0 00.05 0.10

0.15

0.20

Strain, m m / m m

(d)

(e)

Fig. 1. The stress-strain curves obtained from three-point bend tests of a monolithic A1203 and PMC/A1203/PMC laminated
composites: (a) monolithic A1203; (b) C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90); (c)C( +45/-45)/A1203/C ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) ; (d) A(0/90)/AI203/A(0/90); (e)
A( + 4 5 / - 45)/A1203/A(+45/-45).

Table 1
The flexural moduli and flexural strengths measured by the three
point bend tests of a monolithic AI203 and four types of polymer
matrix composites
Material

E (GPa)

a (MPa)

AI203
Carbon(0/90) 4
Carbon( +45/-45)4
Aramid(0/90)4
Aramid( +45/-45)4

62
23
10
14
5

143
360
220
240
150

AI203-PMC interface. The A1203-PMC interface

debonding was much more dominant in C(0/90)/
A1203/C(0/90) and A(0/90)/A1203/A(0/90) composites. The plastic deformation of the PMC layer was
more dominant in C( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) / A 1 2 0 3 / C ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 )
and A( + 4 5 / - 45)/AlzO3/A ( + 45 / - 45) composites.
Comparing the stress-strain curves with the crack
propagation behaviour of laminated composites, the
three-point bending process is divided into three
regimes based on the crack propagation behaviour as
shown in Fig. 1. In regime I from the start point to
point A, the stress increased linearly with strain until
the first load drop at point A and thus all the PMC/

AlzO3/PMC laminated composites deformed elastically in regime I. The load drop at point A is related
to the crack initiation in the A1203 layer of the PMC/
AI203/PMC laminated composite. The strain to the
first load drop at point A was identical; however, the
stress at point A was dependent on the properties of
the PMC as shown in Figs. l(b)-l(e).
The monolithic A1203 fractured catastrophically
after crack initiation, and the crack initiated in the
A1203 layer of the PMC/AlzO3/PMC laminated composite was opened slowly in regime II from point A to
point B in Fig. 1. In regime II, the PMC layers were
deformed elastically and the crack was opened in
A1203 layer of the laminated composites. The crack
opening in the AlzO3 layer was suppressed by the PMC
layers laminated on both sides of the A1203 plate. The
stress increased with strain until the second stress drop
at point B, which is related to the crack initiation in the
PMC layer or debonding at the AI203-PMC interface.
The C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90 ) and A(0/90)/AI20 fl
A(0/90) composites, in which the laminated PMC has
higher flexural stress and modulus, fractured at point B
by debonding at the A1203-PMC interface, while
the C ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) / A 1 2 0 3 / C ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) and A ( + 4 5 /
-45)/A1203/A ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) composites, in which the
laminated PMC has lower flexural stress and modulus,

] 60

S.H. Hong et al.

Materials Science and EngineeringA194 (1995) 157-163

II
.

(a)

I lcm

IIiiiill i[I........ _,~..L_,Z

L~

...................................................................
.

I Icm

(b)

ffflll

. . . . .

m,] .....

1 Icm

,5

.....................

(c)

,.

J,

(d)

.......................

, ,,,,,,,~,, ..........

. . . .

llllll ' ~

..... ~

,' Icm

~ - -

Fig. 2. The crack initiation and propagation processes during three-point bend tests of PMC/AI203/PMC laminated composites: (a)
C(0/90)/A120~/C(0/90); (b) C( + 4 5 / - 45)/A1203/C( +45/-45); (c)A(0/90)/AI2O3/A(0/90); (d) A( + 4 5 / - 45)/AI203/A(+45/-45).

did not fracture at the AI203-PMC interface but exhibited deformation of the PMC layer. Regime Ill from
point B to point C in Fig. l(c) and Fig. l(e) is related
to the deformation of the outer PMC layer without
complete debonding at A1203/PMC interface. It is
suggested that the C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90 ) and
A(0/90)/AI203/A(0/90 ) laminated composites failed
at the A1203-PMC interface, since the ratio of flexural
strength to tensile stress in the PMC layer is higher
than the ratio of interfacial strength to shear stress at
the AI203-PMC interface. The C( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) / A 1 2 0 3 /
C ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) and A( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) / A 1 2 0 3 / A ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 )
laminated composites fractured at the PMC layer, since
the ratio of flexural strength to tensile stress in the
PMC layer is lower than the ratio of interracial strength
to shear stress at the AI203-PMC interface.
The three-point bending behaviours of the PMC/
A1203/PMC laminated composites in regime I were
similar, but the peak stress and modulus were depen-

dent on the properties of the PMC layers. The PMC/

A1203/PMC
laminated
composites
deformed
elastically until a crack was initiated at point A, and
thus the first peak stress at point A is related to the
elastic modulus of the PMC/AlzO3/PMC laminated
composites. The energy absorbed up to point A is the
elastic deformation energy of the PMC/AlzO3/PMC
laminated composites. The peak stress at point A and
the elastic modulus of PMC in the P M C / A I 2 0 3 / P M C
laminated composites are plotted in Fig. 3. Fig. 3
shows that the peak stress at point A is directly proportional to the elastic modulus of PMC. This result
indicates that the stress for crack initiation in the A1203
layer is dependent on the elastic modulus of the laminated composite which is related to the elastic modulus
of PMC.
In regime II, the peak stress at point B was dependent on the interfacial strength at the A1203-PMC
interface and the flexural strength of the PMC. The

S.H, Hong et al.

Materials Science and Engineering A194 (1995) 157-163

50

161

Load(P)

150

Elastic Modulus

40

Peak stress

ca

o.

~oo

~.

k
(a)

30

-'

"6
Q

20

Or

< oe

so
o

_=

a.

10

69

G9

~D oc

uJ

C(0/90)

C(+45/-45) 1(0/90)

k(+45/.,45)

Types of PMC

Fig, 3. The comparison between the peak stresses at point A in

Fig. 1 and elastic moduli of the PMCs in PMC/AIzO3/PMC
laminated composites.

peak stress at point B was determined by the interracial

strength of AlzO3-PMC interface in the C(0/90)/
A1203/C(0/90 ) and A(0/90)/AlzO3/A(0/90 ) laminated
composites which fractured by debonding at A1203PMC interface. While the peak stress at point B is
determined by the flexural strength of the PMC in the
C( + 4 5 / - 45)/A1203/C(+45/-45)
and
A( + 4 5 /
45)/A1203/A( + 4 5 / - 45) laminated composites
which fractured by crack propagation into the outer
PMC layer. The tensile stress and shear stress at the
AIzO3-PMC interface during three-point bend test are
calculated from the following equations:
-

G,-

3PL
2
2 bh~

(1)

3 P

(2)

r ' = 4 bh~.,
where P is the applied load, L is the span length, b is
the width of the specimen, h t is the total thickness of
the specimen and h~ is the thickness between the
loading point and AlzO3-PMC interface as shown in
Fig. 4(a). at is the tensile stress acting perpendicular to
the PMC layer, and r~ is the shear stress at the
A1203-PMC interface induced by the applied load P.
o~ and ri increase linearly with different slopes with
increasing applied load as shown in Fig. 4. Once the
crack initiated in the AI203 layer reaches the
AI203-PMC interface, it is observed that the fracture
behaviours of PMC/AlzO3/PMC laminated composites proceeded by two different modes, i.e. fracture
in the PMC layer or debonding at the AIzO3-PMC
interface.

Load(P)

Load(P)

Co)

(c)

Fig. 4. The schematic representation of two different fracture

modes during three-point bend tests of PMC/AI203/PMC
laminated composites: (a) drawing of three-point bending
specimen showing the tensile stress ot at the PMC layer and the
shear stress r~ at A1203-PMC interface induced by aplied load
P; (b) stress-load curve showing the interface debonding when
the flexural strength is higher than the critical tensile stress; (c)
stress-load curve showing the fracture of the PMC layer when
flexural strength is lower than the critical tensile stress.

The measured peak stress and shear stress at point

B are listed in Table 2. The interracial strength of the
A1203-PMC interface is considered constant because
of identical adhesive bonding of laminated composites,
while the flexural strength depends on the type of PMC
layer. If the flexural strength ov of the PMC was higher
than the critical tensile stress 0 c which corresponds to
the tensile stress when the shear stress ri increased to
the interracial strength r c at AI203-PMC interface, the
fracture proceeds by debonding at the A1203-PMC
interface in the case of the C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90 ) and
A(0/90)/AI203/A(0/90) laminated composites as
shown in Fig. 4(b). Then the tensile stress at point B
will be close to the critical tensile stress oc and the
shear stress ri will be close to the interracial strength
r c at the AIzO3-PMC interface in C(0/90)/A1203/
C(0/90) and A(0/90)/AI203/A(0/90) laminated composites. This explanation is strongly supported by the
similar tensile stresses and shear stresses measured in
C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90) and A(0/90)/AI203/A(0/90 )
laminated composites, which were fractured by
debonding at the A1203-PMC interface, as shown in
Table 2. Thus, it is considered that the interracial
strength at the AlzO3-PMC interface is about 32-36
MPa and the critical tensile stress is about 220-240
MPa from the measured shear stress and tensile stress
in Table 2. On the contrary, if the flexural strength of
PMC was lower than the critical tensile stress, the

162

S.H. Hong et al. / MaterialsScienceand EngineeringA194 (1995)157-163

Table 2
The tensile stresses at the outer polymer matrix composite layer and the shear stresses at AI203-PMC interface of PMC/AI203/PMC
laminated composites at the point B in stress-strain curves in Fig. 1

C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90)
C( + 45/- 45)/A1203/C( + 45/-- 45)

A(O/90)/AI203/A(0/90)
A( + 45/- 45)/AI203/A( + 45/- 45)

oB(MPa)

rB (MPa)

Fracture mode

243
141
215
96

36
24
32
14

Interface debonding
Fracture of PMC layer
Interface debonding
Fracture of PMC layer

tensile stress in the PMC layer increased to the flexural

strength before the shear stress reached the interfacial
shear strength. Then the tensile stresses at point B of
C(0/90)/A1~03/C(0/90) and A(O/90)/AlzO3/A(O/90 )
laminated composites, in which the PMC layers fractured, are lower than the critical tensile stress as shown
in Table 2. The peak stress at point B is proportional to
the flexural strength of the PMC layer in the case of the
C( +45/-45)/A1203/C ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) and A( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) /
A I 2 0 3 / A ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) laminated composites. This is
supported by the fact that the ratio between tensile
stresses at point B is almost the same as the ratio of
flexural strengths of C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90) to those
of A(0/90)/AIzO3/A(0/90) from Table 2 and Table 1.
The total energy for the three-point bending of
PMC/AI203/PMC laminated composite is the sum of
energies absorbed in regimes I, II and III, and the
energies calculated in each regime of four different
laminated composites are listed in Table 3. The energy
in regime I was found to be proportional to the elastic
modulus of the PMC. The reason is that the elastic
deformation energy of the PMC/A1203/PMC laminated composites is the sum of elastic deformation
energies of the PMC layers and the AI203 layer, but the
elastic deformation energy of the A1203 layer is negligible compared with that of PMC. The energy in
regime II was found to be related to the fracture mode
of the PMC/AIzO3/PMC laminated composite. The
energy in regime II was proportional to the strength of
the PMC layer in the C ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) / A 1 2 0 3 / C ( + 4 5 /
- 4 5 ) and A( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) / A I 2 0 3 / A ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) laminated composites, which was fractured by the
deformation of the PMC layer, while the energy in
regime II was inversely proportional to the elastic
modulus of PMC in the C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90) and
A(0/90)/A1203/A(0/90) laminated composites as
shown in Table 1 and Table 3. The reason is that the
energy in regime II is the elastic deformation energy of
the PMC layer, which is defined as o2/2E, since the
critical tensile stress is constant in the C(0/90)/A1203/
C(0/90) and A(0/90)/AI203/A(0/90) laminated composites. The energy in regime III was proportional to
the fracture toughness of the outer PMC layer, because
the energy absorption is entirely related to the fracture

Table 3
The energies absorbed in each regime during three-point
bending of a monolithic AlzO3 and PMC/AleO3/PMClaminated
composites
Energies (kJ m -2)

El
AI203

C(0/90)/A1203/C(0/90)

C( +45/- 45)/A1203/C(+45/-45)

A(O/90)/A1203/A(O/90)
A( + 4 5 / - 45)/AI203/A(+45/-45)

Eli

EIII

13.5
7.4
25.2
5.5

0.2
21.0
1.2
> 30.0

0.5

1.4
1.0
1.1
0.9

of the outer PMC layer. As a result, the PMC with high

elastic modulus is effective in suppressing the crack
initiation at the A1203 layer in regime I of the PMC/
AI203/PMC laminated composite, while the PMC with
high flexural strength with high fracture toughness is
effective in enhancing the fracture resistance of the
PMC/A1203/PMC laminated composite.

4. Conclusions

The crack propagation behaviour during three-point

bending of a monolithic A1203 and PMC/AI203/PMC
composites laminated with four diffrent PMCs has
been investigated. The fracture behaviour of the PMC/
A1203/PMC laminated composites was sensitively
affected by the properties of the PMCs. The total
fracture energy of the PMC/AI203/PMC laminated
composite increased by more than two orders of magnitude compared with that of monolithic AI203. The
three-point bending process of the PMC/AI203/PMC
laminated composite was divided into three regions (I,
II, III) related to the crack initiation and propagation.
In regime I, the PMC/AI203/PMC composite
deformed elastically. In regime II, the PMC layers
deformed elastically and the crack was initiated and
opened in the AI2 03 layer. The crack initiation stress in
the A1203 layer is proportional to the elastic modulus
of the PMC. In regime III, the PMC/A1203/PMC lami-

S.H. Hong et aL

Materials Science and Engineering A194 (1995) 157-163

nated composites were fractured by debonding at the

A1203-PMC interface in C ( 0 / 9 0 ) / A 1 2 0 3 / C ( 0 / 9 0 ) and
A(0/90)/AI203/A(0/90 ) laminated composites, while
the outer PMC layers were deformed without complete
debonding at the AI203-PMC interface in C( + 4 5 / - 4 5 ) /
A1203/C ( + 4 5 / - 4 5 )
and
A( + 4 5 / - 45)/A1203/
A(+45/-45)
laminated composites. The fracture
modes of P M C / A I 2 0 3 / P M C laminated composites
were determined by the ratio of flexural strength of
PMC to interfacial strength at the A1203-PMC
interface.

[3] R.A.J. Sambell, D.H. Bowen and D,C. Phillips, J. Mater.

Sci., 7(1972) 663.
[4] K.M. Prewo and J.J. Brennan, J. Mater. Sci., 17 (1982)
1201.
[5] D.H. Bowen, D.C. Phillips, R.A.J. Sambell and A. Briggs, in
Proc. Int. Conf. on the Mechanical Properties of Materials,

[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
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