Analysis of fracture process in single-edge-notched laminated composites based on the high amplitude acoustic emission events

The objective of this study is to analyze the fracture process of single-edge-notched (SEN) laminated composites with different lay-up configurations and different fiber composite systems based on the behavior of high amplitude acoustic emission (AE) signals. The classification of signal type according to the dominant frequency band and its magnitude via FFT, combined with the microscopic observations under reflection and transmission optical microscopy, have been also performed in order to support the effectiveness of the analysis based on the high amplitude AE signals. It has been shown that the behavior of high amplitude event rate describes well the fracture process in the SEN laminated composites with different fiber orientations; the direction of the main crack propagation in SEN laminated composites is decisively affected by the fiber orientation and is irrespective of the initial notch direction. Finally, the AE characteristics for SEN laminated composites have been summarized in association with the individual fracture process.