Crack propagation in amorphous polymers and their composites

The fracture energy of a polymer depends strongly on the viscoelastic responses of the material, and therefore is a function of temperature and crack velocity. The toughness of a composite is determined by the way in which the reinforcing filler modifies the energy dissipating mechanisms of the polymeric matrix.

The fracture toughness of a variety of polymeric glasses and their composites with glass beads, glass fibers, and rubber particles was measured. The velocity of rapidly moving cracks and the crack propagation rates under controlled loading conditions were also measured.

It was found that the crack propagation velocities in unfilled and glass bead filled materials were controlled by the longitudinal stress waves in the matrix and that the only effects of the glass beads were to blunt the crack tip and limit the viscous deformation. The effect on fracture toughness was relatively small and either positive or negative, depending on which of the above two factors dominated.

The presence of rubber particles as a second phase lowered terminal crack propagation velocities and greatly increased the fracture toughness, indicating a crack retarding effect of the rubber particles. This is related to the induction of crazes in the matrix by the rubber phase.

Glass fibers had a tendency to bridge the tip of a propagating crack, thereby greatly increasing the fracture toughness. In this case the work of fracture comes from a combination of the elastic strain energy stored in the fibers, the energy dissipated in debonding the fibers from the matrix, and the fracture energy of the matrix itself.     

The application of high speed photography and white light speckle to the study of dynamic fracture

A white light speckle technique is combined with high speed photography to study the dynamic fracture of a sample of PMMA. A series of single exposure speckle patterns are photographically recorded at the rate of 2 × 10⁵ frames s^-1 during fracture of the sample. The displacement field around the tip of the propagating crack may then be determined by superimposing pairs of individual frames to form a ‘double-exposure’ speckle pattern. It is shown that the method gives values for the stress intensity factor K which are consistent with those obtained from other techniques.     

Dynamic optical visualization on the interaction between propagating crack and stationary crack

Dynamic interactions between the propagating crack and the static crack in PMMA material are studied by combining high-speed Schardin camera with optical caustic method. A series of dynamic optical bifocal patterns (the specimen-focused image and the off-focused image) around the propagating crack tip and the static crack tip are recorded for PMMA thin strip which contains two collinear-edge-cracks subjected to tensile loading, the variations of the caustic diameter and the distortion of the caustic shape are revealed due to the influence of local stress singularity at the crack tip. Interactions between the moving crack and the static crack are analyzed by means of the evolution of dynamic fracture parameters. The influence of crack interaction on fracture parameters is discussed based on both a K-dominance assumption and a higher order transient crack-tip expansion. These results will be useful to the evaluation of dynamic properties and the design of structures in the cracked polymer material.     

Photoelastic investigation of interfacial fracture between orthotropic and isotropic materials

Static and dynamic fracture of interfaces between orthotropic and isotropic materials were studied using photoelasticity. In this study, a bi-material specimen made of PSM-1^® and Scotchply^® 1002, a unidirectional glass fiber reinforced epoxy composite, was used. Two fiber orientations, fibers parallel to the interface (α=0°) and fibers perpendicular to the interface (α=90°) were considered. Center crack bi-material specimens having different crack lengths were loaded quasi-statically and the full-field isochromatics were recorded using a digital camera. The complex stress intensity factor corresponding to each crack length was calculated from the isochromatics and the values were compared to that obtained from boundary collocation method. Dynamic interfacial fracture was studied with an edge crack bi-material geometry for the two different fiber orientations. The isochromatics around the propagating crack were recorded using a digital high-speed camera. The fracture parameters such as crack speed, complex stress intensity factor and energy release rate were extracted from the isochromatics using the asymptotic stress field equations. The complex stress intensity factor obtained from the static experiments was in close agreement with that calculated using the boundary collocation method. The results also indicated that the fiber orientation with respect to the interface influences the fracture parameters for stationary and propagating cracks.     

边界元法分析二维线弹性裂纹扩展

用边界元法研究裂纹扩展过程.首先将尖端区域Williams渐近展开的特征分析法与边界积分方程结合,解出切口尖端附近应力奇异性区域的各应力场渐近展开项系数,获得平面切口/裂纹结构完整的位移和应力场.再基于考虑非奇异应力项贡献的最大周向应力脆性断裂准则,运用边界元法分析边缘含裂纹半圆形弯曲试样在荷载作用下的启裂方向,对裂纹扩展过程给出自动跟踪方法,通过算例证明边界元法模拟裂纹扩展过程的正确性和有效性.     

Dynamic behaviour of the icosahedral Al——Pd——Mn quasicrystal with a Griffith crack

The dynamic response of an icosahedral Al--Pd--Mn quasicrystal with a Griffith crack to impact loading is investigated in this paper. The elastohydrodynamic model for the wave propagation and diffusion together with their interaction is adopted. Numerical results of stress, displacement and dynamic stress intensity factors are obtained by using the finite difference method. The effects of wave propagation, diffusion and phonon--phason coupling on the quasicrystal in the dynamic process are discussed in detail, where the phason dynamics is explored particularly.     

An investigation of cracking in brittle solids under dynamic compression using photoelasticity

Crack initiation in brittle materials was experimentally studied using photoelasticity under dynamic loading conditions with particular attention to the frictional characteristics of the microcracks. Two pieces of Homalite-100 were bonded except central region to prepare plate specimens with an inclined center crack. An edge of the specimen was impacted with and without lateral confinement. In situ photoelastic (isochromatic) fringes were obtained using a high-speed camera. Initial direction and profile of wing crack was the same as in static loading tests. Effect of crack surface roughness and lateral confinement on fringe pattern is discussed. Average speed of wing crack propagation was about 100 m/s and wing cracks from a crack with higher friction coefficient propagated faster than from a smooth crack.     

Soda lime玻璃材料中失效波形成和传播研究

 为了研究冲击载荷作用下Soda lime玻璃材料中失效波的形成和传播,通过轻气炮加载平板撞击实验,采用双螺旋锰铜压阻传感器,在一发实验中同时测量4种不同厚度试件背面与有机玻璃背板间界面处的纵向应力时程曲线,根据测量结果得到试件中失效波的传播轨迹。通过改变碰撞速度,对不同加载条件下的失效波形成和传播规律进行了研究,结果表明,Soda lime玻璃材料在冲击作用下产生失效波所需的延迟时间随冲击载荷的增加而减小,失效波传播速度随冲击载荷的增加而增加。最后采用弹性微裂纹统计模型描述冲击载荷作用下Soda lime玻璃的破坏机制,并将模型嵌入LS-DYNA有限元程序中,模拟试件在不同加载条件下的平板碰撞,所得横向应力和自由面粒子速度曲线均可用于表征失效波破坏现象。根据数值模拟结果分析失效波的传播轨迹,与实验测量结果符合较好。     

Simulated caustic patterns for dynamic crack growth in a plate based on a three-dimensional numerical analysis

The rapid growth of a through-the-thickness crack in a nominally elastic plate under Mode I conditions is considered, with emphasis on the three-dimensional aspects of the elastodynamic crack growth process. For points near the crack edge, the assumptions on stress state consistent with plane stress analysis are not valid, and the possibility of an inertial effect associated with rapid lateral contraction must be considered. The steady crack growth process is analyzed here by means of the finite element method, and the degree to which the local fields are described by plane stress analysis is established. In addition, synthetic shadow spot patterns are generated from the numerical three-dimensional solutions. The inferred values of stress intensity factor are compared with the values of the corresponding plane stress dynamic stress intensity factor.     

晶体相场法研究应力状态及晶体取向对微裂纹尖端扩展行为的影响

采用晶体相场模拟研究了单向拉伸作用下初始应力状态、晶体取向角度对单晶材料内部微裂纹尖端扩展行为的影响, 以(111)晶面上的预制中心裂纹为研究对象探讨了微裂纹尖端扩展行为的纳观机理, 结果表明: 微裂纹的扩展行为主要发生在<011>(111)滑移系上, 扩展行为与扩展方向与材料所处的初始应力状态及晶体取向紧密相关. 预拉伸应力状态将首先诱发微裂纹尖端生成滑移位错, 进而导致晶面解理而实现微裂纹尖端沿[011]晶向扩展, 扩展到一定程度后由于位错塞积, 应力集中, 使裂纹扩展方向沿另一滑移方向[101], 并形成锯齿形边缘; 预剪切应力状态下, 微裂纹尖端首先在[101]晶向解理扩展, 并诱发位错产生, 形成空洞聚集型长大的二次裂纹, 形成了明显的剪切带; 预偏变形状态下微裂纹尖端则直接以晶面解理形式[101]在上进行扩展, 直至断裂失效; 微裂纹尖端扩展行为随晶体取向不同而不同, 较小的取向角度会在裂纹尖端形成滑移位错, 诱发空位而形成二次裂纹, 而较大的取向角下的裂纹尖端则以直接解理扩展为主, 扩展方向与拉伸方向几近垂直.     

弹性连续介质中氢致裂纹传播理论

弹性连续介质中的氢原子,在裂纹应力场的诱导下发生聚集,形成氢气团,本文计算了气团分布区平均氢浓度,并将该区看作沿裂纹尖端分布的弹性夹杂,确定了夹杂的本征应变,研究了夹杂的应力场P_ij对裂纹位错密度的影响,求得了裂纹尖端总的应力强度因子,认为氢脆机理是氢气团增大了裂纹尖端应力强度因子,最后还讨论了氢致开裂的物理过程及氢致裂纹扩展速率,所得结果与实验符合很好。 关键词：     

Elliptically polarized white light photoviscoelastic technique and its application to viscoelastic fracture

The present paper demonstrates the successful application of the photoviscoelastic technique using elliptically polarized white light to the stress field evaluation of the crack growth in a viscoelastic strip. Using the proposed technique, which can determine both isochromatic and isoclinic parameters simultaneously from a single color image, the time-dependent stress state around a slowly propagating crack tip in a viscoelastic strip plate is successfully analyzed. Then, the time-dependent stress intensity factor extended for linearly viscoelastic materials is evaluated from the experimental results using a method based on the least squares. The results show that the proposed critical stress intensity factor for fast crack growth may be considered as a characteristic property of the material under monotonically increasing load.     

碳纤维布补强梁裂尖奇异性的光学焦散线实验研究

通过光学焦散线方法对碳纤维布加固含裂纹梁进行三点弯荷载下的静荷载和冲击实验,研究了其断裂特性。在静态实验研究中,记录了不同载荷状态下裂纹的焦散斑光学图像,计算了与之对应的裂纹尖端的应力强度因子,分析了试件在粘贴加固不同长度的碳纤维布情况下焦散斑和应力强度因子演化规律。在动态实验中,记录了裂纹扩展的过程和在此过程中不同时刻的焦散斑和裂纹扩展的路线。通过各瞬间的焦散斑图像,分析裂纹的扩展长度及速度,并得到各时刻的动态应力强度因子。     

Fracture assessment of polymethyl methacrylate using sharp notched disc bend specimens under mixed mode I + III loading

Mixed mode I/III behavior of Perspex (polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)) is studied experimentally and theoretically in this research using a new and simple laboratory test configuration. The specimen is a circular disc containing a sharp V-notch along the diameter that is loaded by the conventional three-point bend fixture. The critical values of notch stress intensity factors (K _I ^V and K _III ^V ) were obtained for the whole combinations of modes I and III simply by changing the notch inclination angle relative to the loading rollers. The value of notch fracture toughness under pure or dominantly tension loads was greater than its corresponding value under mode III or dominantly torsion loads. The experimental results were also predicted very well by employing the local strain energy density (SED) criterion.     

Unstable Fracture Behavior of Rubber Toughened Poly(Styrene-co-Acrylonitrile)

A linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) approach was used to study fracture characteristics of ABS materials. The effects of crack (ligament) length and rubber content on the microscopic deformations taking place at the front of crack tip and in the bulk of the specimens were investigated. The results of fractography studies showed that, in addition to rubber content, the microscopic deformations are influenced by crack length. For some materials this manifests itself as a change in macroscopic response. The ligament length dependent behavior was increased for the samples with higher rubber contents. The results also showed that, although the elastic behavior with unstable crack growth is the dominant micromechanism of deformation, stable crack propagation still occurred in some compositions. All the fracture parameters, including fracture toughness, fracture energy, plastic zone size, and crack tip opening, increased with rubber content. The changes in microscopic and, as a consequence, in the macroscopic deformation behavior of a given specimen with ligament length were attributed to changes in yield stress of the sample and maximum stress on the ligament.     

Scatter of fatigue data owing to material microscopic effects

A common phenomenon of fatigue test data reported in the open literature such as S-N curves exhibits the scatter of points for a group of same specimens under the same loading condition.The reason is well known that the microstructure is different from specimen to specimen even in the same group.Specifically,a fatigue failure process is a multi-scale problem so that a fatigue failure model should have the ability to take the microscopic effect into account.A physically-based trans-scale crack model is established and the analytical solution is obtained by coupling the micro-and macro-scale.Obtained is the trans-scale stress intensity factor as well as the trans-scale strain energy density(SED)factor.By taking this trans-scale SEDF as a key controlling parameter for the fatigue crack propagation from micro-to macro-scale,a trans-scale fatigue crack growth model is proposed in this work which can reflect the microscopic effect and scale transition in a fatigue process.The fatigue test data of aluminum alloy LY12 plate specimens is chosen to check the model.Two S-N experimental curves for cyclic stress ratio R=0.02 and R=0.6 are selected.The scattering test data points and two S-N curves for both R=0.02 and R=0.6 are exactly re-produced by application of the proposed model.It is demonstrated that the proposed model is able to reflect the multiscaling effect in a fatigue process.The result also shows that the microscopic effect has a pronounced influence on the fatigue life of specimens.     

基于FBG反射谱特征的修补结构裂纹扩展监测

为了提高飞行器壁板裂纹修补结构的安全性,对基于光纤布拉格光栅(FBG)反射谱特征的航空铝合金修补结构疲劳裂纹扩展长度及角度监测方法进行了研究。修补结构在疲劳载荷的作用下,裂纹发生扩展,其尖端附近会产生不均匀应变场,在其作用下FBG传感器反射谱发生变形,通过检测反射谱变形达到监测裂纹扩展的目的。建立了实验样件的模型,使用有限元方法计算得到不同角度下裂纹扩展到不同长度时的应变分布,使用传输矩阵数值计算方法得到相应的FBG反射谱。提取反射谱的主峰偏移、反射谱面积、次峰峰值和三峰峰值等变形特征,建立并训练人工神经网络(ANN),通过ANN建立反射谱变形特征同裂纹扩展情况的关系,实现了对修补结构裂纹扩展的精确监测,监测裂纹长度误差在0.5 mm之内,角度误差在5°之内。解决了修补结构的裂纹扩展精确监测问题,对提高飞行器安全以及节约维护成本有着重要意义。     

Constructive and destructive interference in acoustic emission during fatigue crack propagation

Fatigue crack propagation monitoring with acoustic emission reveals the presence of maxima and minima in the curve of the count rate as a function of the stress intensity factor. This is explained in terms of constructive and destructive interference due to specimen geometry. A theoretical model is developed and experimental proof of the validity of the model is presented.     

Mixed mode I/II fracture investigation of Perspex based on the averaged strain energy density criterion

In this work, some recent mixed mode I/II fracture toughness results obtained from Perspex (or polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)) with four simple cracked specimens subjected to the conventional three-point bend loading are reanalysed based on local energy concept. Although all the mentioned samples have been tested under the same and similar mode mixities, different fracture toughness envelopes were obtained for mixed mode I/II fracture of PMMA. The averaged strain energy density (SED) criterion has been applied in the past for different types of notched specimens (including U, V, O and keyhole notches). It is shown that the mixed mode tensile-in plane shear fracture toughness data obtained from the semicircular and triangular crack type specimens are successfully predicted for sharp cracked PMMA samples using the SED criterion.     

Mixed mode I/II brittle fracture in V-notched Brazilian disk specimens under negative mode I conditions

The well-known round-tip V-notched Brazilian disk specimen is utilized for conducting mixed mode I/II fracture tests on PMMA under negative mode I conditions for different notch angles and various notch radii with the aim to measure experimentally the fracture load and the fracture initiation angle. It is shown by the finite element analysis that although the notch is under negative mode I loading, one side of the notch border still experiences tensile tangential stresses suggesting that fracture would take place from the same side of notch border. Experimental observations also indicated that fracture occurs from the tensile side of the notch border confirming the finite element results. The experimental results are then theoretically estimated by means of two stress-based brittle fracture criteria, namely the round-tip V-notch maximum tangential stress and the mean-stress criteria. It is shown that both criteria provide very good predictions to the experimental results obtained under negative mode I conditions.