Investigation of Meniscus Effect on Microbond Test of Typha Fiber/Epoxy Matrix

Abstract

The microbond test was one of the methods to examine the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) value of fiber and polymer matrix. The meniscus angle that formed at both ends of the matrix is difficult to control while manufacturing the specimen for the microbond test. Therefore, the effect of meniscus angle must be evaluated. In this paper, we evaluated the impact of variations of the meniscus angle against the maximum von-mises stress and the IFSS value of the Typha fiber epoxy matrix by finite element method. The geometry of the microbond test specimen was modeled with 0.25 mm fiber radius, 2 mm fiber length, 1.75 mm embedded length of the matrix, and varied the meniscus angles with 22°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90°. The mesh type quad-dominated CAX4R is used on fiber and matrix, while quad COHAX4 is applied to the cohesive element between fiber and matrix. The constantly applied displacement was adjusted to the upper end of the fiber at 0.6 mm. The simulation results showed that the difference in maximum stress obtained in each model. Furthermore, that is not given much difference in IFSS value. It can be concluded that the meniscus angle affects the maximum von-mises stress but not too much-affected IFSS value of the fiber and epoxy matrix.