Development of an opening-tearing mode fracture system for composite materials

In this paper the mixed-mode I/III prestressed split-cantilever beam fracture specimen [1,2] is developed, which combines the mode-III modified split-cantilever beam [1] and the well-known double-cantilever beam [3] specimens using a special rig. The most important feature of the novel beam-like specimen is that it is able to provide any combinations of the mode-I and mode-III energy release rates. If only crack propagation onset is involved then the mixed-mode I/III prestressed split-cantilever beam specimen can be used to obtain the fracture criterion of transparent composite materials in the GI – GIII plane in a relatively simple way.