Numerical Analysis of Damage in Silica Filled Epoxy Products using XFEM and its Verifications

The paper summarizes the study of cracking phenomena in silica filled epoxy material. Numerical analyses of cracking phenomena were performed using Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) for a full scale element as well as in a microscale, for the Representative Volume Element (RVE). Experimental verification consists of both C2 tests for real products and in-situ tensile tests and microstructural observations with the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). At the end, a summary with conclusions related to the prepared numerical analyses and experiments is included.