Notch Effect in the Tensile Quasi-Static Behaviour of 40% Short Glass Fibre - PPS Reinforced Composites

Abstract The quasi-static tensile behaviour of notched and unnotched specimens made of 40% wt. glass fibre-Polyphenylenesulphide (40GF-PPS) short fibre reinforced composite has been investigated in this work. Plain and notched specimens (with notch radius ranging from 0.25 mm to 10 mm) were manufactured with two different fibre orientation angles (0° and 90°) and tested under tension loadings with the aim to understand the effect of the notch root radius and the notch geometry. Contemporaneously, a careful analysis was carried out both at the macroscopic and microscopic level, discussing the analogies existing between plain and notched specimens.