| Summary: | This special issue collects together selected papers from the oeuvre of Professor Hideki Sekine concerning micromechanical research into the fracture of composite materials. Micromechanical research into the fracture of composite materials is the main focus of his academic career. The phenomenon which we measure in terms of fracture toughness or fracture strength is a macro-scale behavior. It results from fiber-bridging, fiber-breakage, interface debonding, matrix cracking, matrix yielding, matrix creep and so on at the micro-scale. An²⁶ important aim of his research is to extract meaningful factors affecting the fracture of composite materials and to incorporate those factors into the relevant mathematical model. Sophisticated simulation techniques have recently been developed, and used to simulate multi-scale and multi-physical phenomena ranging from the molecular level up to the level of the structure. In these simulations, micromechanical modeling is more important due to its ability to extract meaningful results; even from massive numerical simulations. It is hoped that this special issue will provide impetus to making further progress in the fracture mechanics of composite materials.
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