The mechanical behavior of fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites is mainly influenced by fiber length. However, fiber length is strongly reduced during processing. For this reason direct processing techniques are increasingly applied in order to avoid fiber fracture and thus to generate composites with long fibers. This work investigates the influence of fiber length especially on fatigue behavior of thermoplastic composites. The processing influences on fiber length of composites during injection molding compounding are thereby analyzed and quantified. It is thus shown how to directly influence fiber length in the composite.

This book presents a unified approach to fracture behavior of natural and synthetic fiber-reinforced polymer composites on the basis of fiber orientation, the addition of fillers, characterization, properties and applications. In addition, the book contains an extensive survey of recent improvements in the research and development of fracture analysis of FRP composites that are used to make higher fracture toughness composites in various applications.The FRP composites are an emerging area in polymer science with many structural applications. The rise in materials failure by fracture has forced scientists and researchers to develop new higher strength materials for obtaining higher fracture toughness. Therefore, further knowledge and insight into the different modes of fracture behavior of FRP composites are critical to expanding the range of their application.

The use of polymer composites in various engineering applications has become state of the art. This multi-author volume provides a useful summary of updated knowledge on polymer composites in general, practically integrating experimental studies, theoretical analyses and computational modeling at different scales, i. e. , from nano- to macroscale. Detailed consideration is given to four major areas: structure and properties of polymer nanocomposites, characterization and modeling, processing and application of macrocomposites, and mechanical performance of macrocomposites. The idea to organize this volume arose from a very impressive workshop - The First International Workshop on Polymers and Composites at IVW Kaiserslautern: Invited Humboldt-Fellows and Distinguished Scientists, which was held on May 22-24,2003 at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. The contributing authors were invited to incorporate updated knowledge and developments into their individual chapters within a year after the workshop, which finally led to these excellent contributions. The success of this workshop was mainly sponsored by the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through a Sofia Kovalevskaja Award Program, financed by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research within the "Investment in the Future Program" of the German Government. In 2001, the Humboldt Foundation launched this new award program in order to offer outstanding young researchers throughout the world an opportunity to establish their own work-groups and to develop innovative research concepts virtually in Germany. One of the editors, Z.