MATRIX CRACK IMPINGING ON A FRICTIONAL INTERFACE IN UNIDIRECTIONAL BRITTLE-MATRIX COMPOSITES

The objective of this work is to study the effect of a frictional inte rface on the extent of interfacial debonding and internal stress distr ibution within a unidirectional ceramic matrix composite under thermo- mechanical loading. The configuration considered is a concentric cylin der with an annular crack in the axial plane of the matrix while the f iber-matrix interface is made to obey the Coulomb friction law. The pr esent approach of employing a variational model is shown to satisfy al l boundary and inequality conditions in the slip and stick regions and at the slip-stick transition point. The results are also shown to be in very good agreement with a numerical elasticity solution for points away from the matrix crack tip while some of the peculiarities near t he crack tip associated with the numerical solution are identified. Pu blished by Elsevier Science Ltd.