Fracture linear-elastic

ASME Code Section III at first used the fracture analysis diagram (FAD) for the prevention of brittle fracture. Linear elastic fracture mechanics was introduced in 1972 Summer Addenda, Appendix G. ASME Code Section XI Appendix A and NRC Federal Register lOCFR Part 50 were issued in 1973. In these codes and regulations, RTndt was introduced as an important index temperature to characterize the transition curve of fracture toughness. 

Crack Tip Stresses. The simplest case for fracture mechanics analysis is a linear elastic material where stress. O, is proportional to strain, S,... 

In moie ductile materials the assumptions of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) are not vahd because the material yields more at the crack tip, so that... 

Fracture Mechanics. Linear elastic fracture mechanics (qv) (LEFM) can be appHed only to the propagation and fracture stages of fatigue failure. LEFM is based on a definition of the stress close to a crack tip in terms of a stress intensification factor K, for which the simplest general relationship is... 

Substantial work on the appHcation of fracture mechanics techniques to plastics has occurred siace the 1970s (215—222). This is based on earlier work on inorganic glasses, which showed that failure stress is proportional to the square root of the energy required to create the new surfaces as a crack grows and iaversely with the square root of the crack size (223). For the use of linear elastic fracture mechanics ia plastics, certaia assumptioas must be met (224) (/) the material is linearly elastic (2) the flaws within the material are sharp and (J) plane strain conditions apply ia the crack froat regioa. 

Elastic Behavior. Elastic deformation is defined as the reversible deformation that occurs when a load is appHed. Most ceramics deform in a linear elastic fashion, ie, the amount of reversible deformation is a linear function of the appHed stress up to a certain stress level. If the appHed stress is increased any further the ceramic fractures catastrophically. This is in contrast to most metals which initially deform elastically and then begin to deform plastically. Plastic deformation allows stresses to be dissipated rather than building to the point where bonds break irreversibly. 

A more practical approach for quantifyiag the conditions required for fracture uses a stress intensity criterion instead of an energy criterion. Using linear elastic theory, it has been shown that under an appHed stress, when the stress intensity K,... 

The importance of inherent flaws as sites of weakness for the nucleation of internal fracture seems almost intuitive. There is no need to dwell on theories of the strength of solids to recognize that material tensile strengths are orders of magnitude below theoretical limits. The Griffith theory of fracture in brittle material (Griflfith, 1920) is now a well-accepted part of linear-elastic fracture mechanics, and these concepts are readily extended to other material response laws. 

Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics Behavior of Graphite... 

Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) is based on a mathematical description of the near crack tip stress field developed by Irwin [23]. Consider a crack in an infinite plate with crack length 2a and a remotely applied tensile stress acting perpendicular to the crack plane (mode I). Irwin expressed the near crack tip stress field as a series solution ... 

The basic assumptions of fracture mechanics are (1) that the material behaves as a linear elastic isotropic continuum and (2) the crack tip inelastic zone size is small with respect to all other dimensions. Here we will consider the limitations of using the term K = YOpos Ttato describe the mechanical driving force for crack extension of small cracks at values of stress that are high with respect to the elastic limit. 

An alternative energy approach to the fracture of polymers has also been developed on the basis of non-linear elasticity. This assumes that a material without any cracks will have a uniform strain energy density (strain energy per unit volume). Let this be IIq. When there is a crack in the material this strain energy density will reduce to zero over an area as shown shaded in Fig. 2.65. This area will be given by ka where )k is a proportionality constant. Thus the loss of elastic energy due to the presence of the crack is given by... 

Although Griffith put forward the original concept of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), it was Irwin who developed the technique for engineering materials. He examined the equations that had been developed for the stresses in the vicinity of an elliptical crack in a large plate as illustrated in Fig. 2.66. The equations for the elastic stress distribution at the crack tip are as follows. 

In recent years impact testing of plastics has been rationalised to a certain extent by the use of fracture mechanics. The most successful results have been achieved by assuming that LEFM assumptions (bulk linear elastic behaviour and presence of sharp notch) apply during the Izod and Charpy testing of a plastic. 

Composite materials have many distinctive characteristics reiative to isotropic materials that render application of linear elastic fracture mechanics difficult. The anisotropy and heterogeneity, both from the standpoint of the fibers versus the matrix, and from the standpoint of multiple laminae of different orientations, are the principal problems. The extension to homogeneous anisotropic materials should be straightfor-wrard because none of the basic principles used in fracture mechanics is then changed. Thus, the approximation of composite materials by homogeneous anisotropic materials is often made. Then, stress-intensity factors for anisotropic materials are calculated by use of complex variable mapping techniques. 

Composite 1 with the higher fiber/matrix bonding shows a linear-elastic behavior up to = 160 MPa, which is clearly higher than that of composite 2. The following nonlinear region is small, resulting in an elongation at fracture of 0.32 %. 

The above results are derived from linear elastic fracture mechanics and are strictly valid for ideally brittle materials with the limit of the process zone size going to zero. In order to apply this simple framework of results, Irwin (1957) proposed that the process zone, r be treated as an effective increase in crack length, Sc. With this modification, the fracture toughness becomes... 

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