Abstract: The combined effect of temperature and strain rate on the mechanical properties of glass cloth/epoxy was studied. Using a servo hydraulic material test machine system (MTS880 10), tensile fracture experiments of glass cloth/epoxy laminates at moderate strain rates (10 -5 /s to 1/s) were performed under different temperatures (20℃ to 65℃). In terms of the experiment results the parameters of WEK fracture model are determined. The fracture works of the laminates under different temperatures and strain rates are also measured. The two results show that fracture properties of glass cloth/epoxy laminates are clearly dependent upon temperatures and strain rates. A study of failure process and damage for the laminates under different conditions has also been conducted. Some knotty problems of fracture toughness measurement and fracture model estabilishment for composites are discussed. A set of methods to measure and analyse the fracture behaviour of composite laminates at different temperatures and strain rates is presented.

Key words: compo sites, W EK model, dynam ic fracture toughness, fracture wo rk, temperature, loading rate