85 0 89 14 2 14 10 mil 25 0 18 92 0 95 15 0 15 3 15 mil 22 0 17 65 1 01 17 14 0 5 10 mil 21 0 15 90 0 89 13 0 17 0______________________________________ as will h evident from a study of the data set forth in table i the laminated composites of the invention generally exhibit excellent microcrack yield strength and ultimate tensile strength as well as good transverse and interlaminar shear strength the exceptions for reasons hereinafter more fully explained are mainly observed in composites comprising toughened ceramic interlayers with high 25 whisker loadings although the latter composites exhibit some of the higher transverse strengths observed the effects of varying whisker loading are also manifested in the ultimate failure strains exhibited by these composites while the composites of the invention are generally characterized by ultimate failure strains in excess of 0 85 and preferably in excess of 0 9 indicative of a high degree of non brittle fracture behavior those composites containing tough ceramic interlayers with whisker loadings above about 20 by weight exhibit low failure strains u03b5 ult which are more characteristic of brittle materials the examples in table i which include toughened interlayers with whisker loadings of 25 exhibit this behavior one proposed explanation of this effect is that the fracture behavior of the described laminated composites depends to a large degree on whether the fiber reinforced layers or the whisker toughened layers are the principal load bearing components of the structure load bearing depends principally on the relative elastic moduli of.