Experimental results for investigation of dynamical crack resistance curves in the instrumented Charpy impact test on polypropylene (PP)/glass fibre composites are presented. For this purpose the multiple specimen R-curve method, stop-block technique is used. With the aid of J-integral versus stable crack growth ( & a ) curves the influence of a special coupler system on crack toughness as resistance against stable crack growth is discussed. It is shown that it is possible to quantify different energy dissipative processes with the new fracture mechanical material value J x T , ( T 2 ,tearing modulus). The problems of determining physical crack initiation values for short fibre composites are discussed. The physical material background for using the 'plastic hinge' model to describe the deformation behaviour of PP/ glass fibre composites is shown, using the example of selected crack opening displacement ( I $ ) versus P a curves. 0 1991 Hiithig & Wepf Verlag, Basel CCC 0258-0322/91/$02.00