Experimental study of failure mechanisms in particle filled acrylic composites

Particle filled solid surface composites are used to fabricate kitchen countertops and sinks which may be subjected to severe temperature variations, giving rise to high thermal stresses. These stresses may lead to failure by cracking in regions subjected to large temperature variation. An aim of this paper is to investigate mechanisms of failure in solid surface materials using in situ observations during tensile, compressive and fatigue loading and to define test configurations that give meaningful measurements of material properties. Experiments show that the failure in tension occurs in several stages. In flexural loading the failure process is more complex. Consequently, flexural testing should not be used as a substitute for the measurement of ultimate tensile strength in a particle filled solid surface composite. The application of conventional damage mechanics to describe the i failure of test specimens is also discussed.