Fracture Mechanics of Composite Delamination

Delamination is one of the most commonly observed failure modes in composite materials. This article describes the three fundamental fracture failure modes of composite delamination, namely, opening, in-plane shearing, and tearing or scissoring shearing modes. It discusses the characterization and analysis of delamination. The article also reviews the prediction of delamination factors, such as flexbeam fatigue life, and skin/stiffener pull-off strength and life.