Fracture properties of flexible composites from aerostat

The tearing properties and the punch properties were investigated on the flexible composites from the aerostat by experiments and numerical simulations. For tearing tests of specimens with different quench width and total width, the typical brittle fracture is displayed in the crack propagation process. The tearing fracture process from the numerical simulations with linear fracture model is consistent with the experimental results. With the stress intensity factor calculated, the maximum loading level for the tearing tests reduce with the increment of the quench width ratio which agree well with the experimental results. The FEA simulations with the fracture strain as the crack propagation criteria rebuilt the experimental results of the punch tests. Larger displacement is needed for the specimens with larger diameter to perform the same fracture strain at the punch center while the maximum loading level is the same for different specimens for the stress at the punch center.