Comparison of the shapes of macro- and submicrocracks in loaded polymers

Small-angle x-ray scattering has been used to estimate the longitudinal (L) and transverse (L) dimensions of the submicrocracks formed in loaded polymers. The growth under load of macrocracks, initiated in the same polymers by a slit or a circular hole, has also been observed. The ratios L/L for the macro- and submicrocracks are found to coincide.A. F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 6, pp. 1013–1018, November–December, 1971.