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The micromechanics of reinforcement of a model composite system consisting of a continuous high-modulus (HM) carbon fibre embedded in an epoxy resin have been investigated. The composite was subjected to incremental tensile loading up to full fibre fragmentation, while the strain in the fibre was monitored at each level of load using a laser Raman spectroscopic (LRS) technique. The average strain in the fibre increased linearly with applied matrix strain up to a value of 0.8 %, when the first fibre fracture occurred. After fracture, the strain in the fibre was found to build from the tips of the fibre breaks, reaching a maximum value in the middle of each fragment. The shape of the load transfer profiles at the locality of the fibre tips indicated that the stress transfer efficiency had been affected by the fracture process. The length of interfacial debonding at the point of fibre fracture was found to be driven by the strain energy of the fractured fragments.The interfacial shear stress (ISS) distributions at various levels of applied load along individual fragments, have been derived from the load transfer profiles using a balance of forces analysis. The shape of the ISS profiles confirmed that interfacial debonding initiated from the tips of the fibre breaks, whereas good fibre/matrix adhesion was retained around the mid-length of each fragment. By increasing the applied strain to 1.8%, the maximum ISS values also increased in spite of the presence of debonding at the fibre tips. An upper ISS limit of 42 MPa was calculated at this point. Further increases of the applied strain to 5% resulted in significant reductions in the values of the maximum ISS, as well as an increase, of the frictional slip towards the middle of each fragment. Finally, by employing the assumptions of the conventional fragmentation test, the calculated value of the nominal interfacial shear strength at the point of full fragmentation was lower by a factor of 2 than the value measured by the LRS method.

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