On the fracture toughness of calcium aluminate cement–phenol resin composites

Macro-defect-free (MDF) cement with high flexure strength has been an active research area over several decades. To study the tensile properties of these materials, it is essential to understand the mode I crack propagation. In this article, cleavage cracking in calcium aluminate cement (CAC)–phenol resin composites is analyzed based on an energy method. The crack-trapping effect of the cement particles is found to be significant. The fracture toughness rises with the particle size and is independent of the spacing between the particles. When the cement volume fraction is higher than a critical value the effective work of separation of the phenol resin decreases with the particle content with a coefficient of 1.88. D 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.