Recently, many kinds of advanced composite materials have been used in various industry fields. Among them, fabric CFRP composites are being used as primary structural components in many applications because of their superior properties. However, the complexity of the fabric structure makes understanding of their failure behavior very difficult. The mechanical strength and crack propagation of plain woven carbon fiber fabric laminate composites are examined by acoustic emission(AE) method. AE signals are acquired during the tensile test and fracture tests. Thus, the relationship between AE signal and mechanical behavior curves and crack extension length are shown. Also the interlaminar fracture toughness in terms of AE characteristics are discussed in viewpoint of crack propagation behavior.