Fracture behavior of short glass fibre and short carbon fibre reinforced polypropylene composites

The fracture behaviour of polypropylene (PP) composites reinforced with short glass fibres (SGF) and short carbon fibres (SCF) was studied. The fracture toughness (Kc) of the composites was measured in the T- and L-direction using compact tension specimens made from the plaques manufactured. The study was focused on the combined effect of fibre volume fraction and microstructure (fibre length and alignment) on the fracture toughness of short fibre composites. Variation of the microstructure was increasing fibre content was discussed. The obtained results for the fracture toughness of both SGF/PP and SCF/PP systems was explained using the combined effect of fibre volume fraction and microstructure.