Determining the interfacial toughness from force–displacement curves in the pull-out and microbond tests using the alternative method.

Our ‘alternative’ method of determining interfacial strength parameters in the pull-out and microbond test, based on measuring the maximum pull-out force, F max , and the initial post-debonding force, F b , has been extended to the energy-based approach (estimation of the interfacial toughness, G ic , and the interfacial frictional stress, τ f ). The comparison of the G ic values calculated using the proposed method and the traditional one (using the debond force, F d , instead of F b ) for several fiber–matrix systems showed that both methods yielded very similar results. Thus, the new method can be recommended as an additional technique of G ic determination to be used instead of, or together with the traditional approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]