Influence of flaw distribution on single fibre fragmentation

The single fibre fragmentation (SFF) test is an important technique used to characterise interface and fibre properties in polymer matrix composite materials. This paper describes a Monte Carlo simulation technique to investigate the influence of flaw size characteristics (i.e. flaw size probability distribution parameters and flaw number) on the number of fragments resulting from the SFF test. The main result suggested that a minimum number of flaws was required in order to provide valid results – the actual number varied between approximately 100 and 1000 depending on the parameters being varied. Above this threshold value, the number of fragments generally increased as a power law with respect to flaw number. In addition, the main parameter influencing the number of fibre fragments was concluded to be the portion of unshielded fibre at the point of saturation.