Semi-empirical investigation of the interfacial shear strength of short fiber polymer composites

This study is a semi-empirical approach to effectively estimate the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of short fiber-reinforced polymer composites by combining tensile and acoustic emission testing with finite element modeling. The short glass fiber–polycarbonate composites were fabricated using a solution mixing method and the tensile properties were characterized with a standard test. During the tensile tests, the debonding stresses at the interface between the glass fiber and polycarbonate were monitored with an acoustic emission sensor. Subsequently, a finite element model of the composites was developed using the experimentally obtained debonding stresses to estimate the IFSS of the composites. By employing this semi-empirical method, the IFSS was effectively determined and found to range from 83 to 126 MPa depending on the fiber orientation. This approach can be broadly applied to micron-sized short fibers and nanoscale fillers such as carbon nanotubes or graphene-reinforced composites.