Fracture toughness

About: Fracture toughness is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 39642 publications have been published within this topic receiving 854338 citations.

Crack propagation in high stress fatigue

Abstract: An examination of the fracture surfaces of ductile metal specimens broken in high stress fatigue has revealed the occurrence of fracture ripples similar in appearance to those resulting from low stresses, but considerably larger. By sectioning specimens strained to various stages of the fatigue stress cycle, it has been shown that crack propagation and fracture ripple formation are the consequences of the successive rounding and sharpening of the crack tip during each stress cycle. The hypothesis that high stress fatigue is different in character from low stress fatigue and results from a ‘delayed static fracture’ is not in accord with the present observations.

Impressive Fatigue Life and Fracture Toughness Improvements in Graphene Oxide/Epoxy Composites

Abstract: Epoxy systems have proven popular having important applications in aerospace and wind energy, but fracture and fatigue resistance of this polymer remain less than desired. Graphene oxide, a form of atomically thin carbon, possessing impressive multifunctional properties and an ideal interface for interacting with polymer matrices, has emerged as a viable reinforcement candidate. In this work, we report enhancements of 28–111% in mode I fracture toughness and up to 1580% in uniaxial tensile fatigue life through the addition of small amounts (≤1 wt %) of graphene oxide to an epoxy system. Graphene oxide was uniquely synthesized by unraveling and splaying open helical-ribbon carbon nanofibers. The resulting oxygenated basal planes and edges of the graphene oxide sheets were observed to promote onset of the cross-linking reaction and led to an increase in total heat of reaction effecting slightly higher glass transition temperatures of the cured composites. Measured improvements were also detected in quasi-st...

Aspects of fracture in particulate reinforced metal matrix composites

Abstract: The tensile deformation and fracture behaviour of the aluminium alloy 6061 reinforced with SiC has been investigated. In the T4 temper plastic deformation occurs throughout the gauge length and the extent of SiC particle cracking increases with increasing strain. In the T6 temper strain becomes localised and particle cracking is more concentrated close to the fracture. The elastic modulus decreases with increasing particle damage and this allows a damage parameter to be identified. The fraction of SiC particles which fracture is less than 5%, and over most of the strain range the damage controlling the tensile ductility can be recovered, indicating that other factors, in addition to particle cracking are important in influencing tensile ductility. It is suggested that macroscopic fracture is initiated by the SiC particle clusters that are present in these composites as a result of the processing. The matrix within the clusters is subjected to high levels of triaxial stress due to elastic misfit and the constraints exerted on the matrix by the surrounding particles. Final fracture is then produced by crack propagation through the matrix between the clusters.