Fracture mechanics stress intensity factor

Rates of CF crack propagation are uniquely defined by the linear elastic fracture mechanics stress intensity factor range that combines the effects of applied load, crack size, and geometry 17,40. The similitude principle states that fatigue and CF cracks grow at equal rates when subjected to equal values of AK [6-S]. The dal N versus AK relationship may be complex however, an effective approach is based on a power (or Paris) relationship of the form [4/]... 

The force criterion of fracture (critical stress intensity factor) is calculated by the known formula of fracture mechanics ... 

Toughening for whisker-reinforced composites has been shown to arise from two separate mechanisms frictional bridging of intact whiskers, and pullout of fractured whiskers, both of which are crack-wake phenomena. These bridging processes are shown schematically in Figure 13. The mechanics of whisker bridging have been addressed (52). The appHed stress intensity factor is given by ... 

Fracture mechanics analysis requires the determination of the mode I stress intensity factor for a surface crack having a circular section profile. Here the circular section flaw will be approximated by a semi-elliptical flaw. 

Step 2. After a contact time t, the material is fractured or fatigued and the mechanical properties determined. The measured properties will be a function of the test configuration, rate of testing, temperature, etc., and include the critical strain energy release rate Gic, the critical stress intensity factor K[c, the critical... 

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. 

The stress corrosion resistance of maraging steel has been evaluated both by the use of smooth specimens loaded to some fraction of the yield strength and taking the time to failure as an indication of resistance, and by the fracture mechanics approach which involves the use of specimens with a pre-existing crack. Using the latter approach it is possible to obtain crack propagation rates at known stress intensity factors (K) and to determine critical stress intensity factors (A iscc) below which a crack will not propagate (see Section 8.9). 

Fracture Mechanics Tests One problem of both sustained load and slow strain-rate tests is that they do not provide a means of predicting the behaviour of components containing defects (other than the inherent defect associated with the notch in a sustained load test). Fracture mechanics provides a basis for such tests (Section 8.9), and measurements of crack velocity as a function of stress intensity factor, K, are widely used. A typical graph of crack velocity as a function of K is shown in Fig. 8.48. Several regions may be seen on this curve. At low stress intensity factors no crack growth is... 

J.P. Bentham and W.T. Koiter, Mechanics of Fracture, ed. by G.C. Sih, Noordhoff International Publishing, Leiden, 1972, pp. 131-178 referred to in Stress Intensity Factors Handbook by Y. Murakami, Pergamon Press, New York, 1987, pp. 6-9. 

The term fracture toughness or toughness with a symbol, R or Gc, used throughout this chapter refers to the work dissipated in creating new fracture surfaces of a unit nominal cross-sectional area, or the critical potential energy release rate, of a composite specimen with a unit kJ/m. Fracture toughness is also often measured in terms of the critical stress intensity factor, with a unit MPay/m, based on linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) principle. The various micro-failure mechanisms that make up the total specific work of fracture or fracture toughness are discussed in this section. 

The fracture behaviour of polymers, usually under conditions of mode I opening, considered the severest test of a material s resistance to crack initiation and propagation, is widely characterised using linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) parameters, such as the plane strain critical stress intensity factor, Kic, or the critical strain energy release rate, Gic, for crack initiation (determined using standard geometries such as those in Fig. 1). LEFM... 

Evans (1975), Evans and Charles (1977), and Emery (1980) performed more refined fracture mechanics studies regarding the onset and arrest conditions Bahr et al. (1988) and Pompe (1993) extended this work and considered the propagation of multiple cracks while Swain (1990) found that materials showing non-linear deformation and A-curve behaviour have a better resistance to thermal shock. More specifically, the behaviour of a crack in the thermal shock-induced stress field was deduced from the dependence of the crack length on the stress intensity factor. Unstable propagation of a flaw in a brittle material under conditions of thermal shock was assumed to occur when the following criteria were satisfied ... 

Available theoretical solutions in dynamic fracture are few, and limited to finite or semi-infinite cracks in an infinite solid for Mode I, self-similar crack extension. Despite the above limitations, short of conducting detailed numerical analysis of the crack tip state of stress, these solutions must be used to deduce the characteristics of the crack tip state of stress, as well as to extract the dynamic stress intensity factor for elastodynamic fracture mechanics. In the following sections, a brief description of available theoretical solutions is presented. 

If the crack tip is considered to be located at the end of the zone of bridging or cohesion (see Fig. 10.6), then the cohesive forces exist in the wake of the crack. Under these circumstances, the cohesive forces essentially reduce the effective value of the stress intensity factor at the crack tip, Keff. Accordingly, the crack tip in this case is shielded. When the shielding is only partial, Keff is finite, whereas for complete shielding, Keff = 0. Both cases are valid fracture mechanics representations for cracks that include cohesive zones. We consider partial shielding first. 

Karger-Kocsis recorded the different fracture behaviors of non-nucleated and -modified PP (MFR 0.8 dg min 1) tested in a three-point bending configuration at 1 ms-1 at 23 °C, a-PP was semi-ductile and /3-PP ductile with a plastic hinge at - 40 °C a-PP was brittle, /i-PP ductile [72], The descriptors from the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), Kq, the stress intensity factor, and Gc, the energy release rate, used to quantify the toughness correlated well with the fracture picture. This conclusion is also valid for... 

---