Micro-damage instability mechanisms in composite materials: Cracking coalescence versus fibre ductility and slippage

The load-displacement softening response of quasi-brittle solids exhibits an unstable structural behavior, which is characterised by a negative slope in the post-peak regime. In severely brittle situations, the post-peak behaviour can show a virtual positive slope, the fracture propagation occurring unexpectedly with a catastrophic loss in the load-carrying capacity. In this case, if the displacement controls the loading process, the curve exhibits a discontinuity and the representative point drops to the lower branch with a negative slope. On the other hand, in order to obtain a stable crack growth, a decrease both in load and in displacement is required. In the last forty years, in-depth study of the so-called snap-back instability was conducted in relation to crack propagation phenomena in quasi-brittle materials. In the present work, the structural response of two brittle-matrix specimens is analysed: the first contains a distribution of collinear micro-cracks, whereas the second presents multiple parallel reinforcing fibres embedded in the matrix. In both cases, it is shown that the structural response presents a discrete number of snap-back instabilities with related peaks and valleys, the crack propagation occurring alternately within the matrix and through the heterogeneities. Thus, the strong analogy between weakened and strengthened zones consists in a multiple snap-back mechanical response, where descending branches of propagating cracks alternate with ascending (linear) branches of arrested cracks.