Abstract. Laminates of fiber reinforced polymer composites are good in in-plane properties and inherently weak in through thickness direction. To address this through thickness properties, the inter-laminar fracture toughness (G Ic and G IIc ) of a unidirectional (UD) Glass epoxy composite laminates were subjected to Mode-I and Mode-II loadings. Experiments were conducted using Double cantilever beam (DCB) and End notch flexure (ENF) specimens with varying pre-crack lengths. Mode I energy release rate (G Ic ) were also evaluated with modified beam and modified compliance theories. The experimental results reveal that, G Ic fracture toughness increases with increasing in pre-crack length, where as in G IIc the effect of increase in pre-crack length exhibits reduced fracture toughness.
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