MECHANISM ANALYSIS OF THICKNESS EFFECT ON MIXED MODE Ⅰ/Ⅱ FRACTURE OF LC4-CS ALUMINUM ALLOY

Mixed mode Ⅰ/Ⅱ fracture erperiments of LC4-CS aluminum alloy were conductedby using tension--shear specimens with thicknesses of 2, 4, 8 and 14mm. Fracturemechanisms of thickness effect on mixed mode Ⅰ/Ⅱ fracture were first examined fromfracture surface morphology to correlate with the macroscopic fracture behavior andstress state. It is found that specimen thickness has a strong influence on mixed modefracture. As thickness varies from thin to thick the macroscopic fracture surfacesappear the characteristics of plane stress state (2mm, 4mm--thick specimen), three--dimensional stress state (8mm--thick specimens), and plane strain state (14mm--thickspecimens), respectively. The specimens of all kinds of thicknesses are typical of ten-sile type failure under mode Ⅰ loading condition and shear type failure under mode Ⅱloading condition. Two distinct features coexist on the fracture surfaces under mixedmode loading conditions, and the corresponding proportion varies with loading mix-ity. Void--growth processes are the failure mechanism in both predominately tensile-and shears--type fractures. The size and depth of dimples on the fracture surface varygreatly with thickness. Therefore, it is extraordinary necessary to take into accountthe thickness effect when a mixed mode fracture criterion is being established.

Experiment on Mode Ⅰ/Ⅱ Mixed Interfacial Fracture Characterization of Foam Core Sandwich Materials at Elevated Temperatures

Foam-cored sandwich materials have been widely used in the civil engineering due to their advantages such as lightweight,high strength,and excellent anti-corrosion ability. However,the interfacial bonding strength of foamcored sandwich materials is weakened at elevated temperatures. In practice,the effect of high temperature cannot be ignored,because the composites and foams are sensitive to the change of temperature in the environment. In this study,a series of single-leg bending beams were tested at different temperatures to evaluate the influences of high temperatures on Mode Ⅰ/Ⅱ mixed interfacial fracture of foam core sandwich materials. The temperature was from29 ℃ to 90 ℃,covered the glass transition temperature of composites and foam core,respectively. The Mode Ⅰ/Ⅱ mixed interfacial crack prorogation and its corresponding interfacial strain energy release rate were summarized.

Microscopic characteristics of different fracture modes of brittle rock

Three types of rock specimens, three-point bending specimen, anti-symmetric four-point bending specimen and direct shearing specimen, were used to achieve Mode I, Mode II and mixed mode I–II fracture, respectively. Microscopic characteristics of the three fracture modes of brittle rock were studied by SEM technique in order to analyze fracture behaviors and better understand fracture mechanisms of different fracture modes of brittle rock. Test results show that the microscopic characteristics of different fracture modes correspond to different fracture mechanisms. The surface of Mode I fracture has a great number of sparse and steep slip-steps with few tearing ridges and shows strong brittleness. In the surface of Mode II fracture there exist many tearing ridges and densely distributed parallel slip-steps and it is attributed to the action of shear stress. The co-action of tensile and shear stresses results in brittle cleavage planes mixed with streamline patterns and tearing ridges in the surface of mixed mode I–II fracture. The measured Mode II fracture toughness K II C and mixed mode I–II fracture toughness K mC are larger than Mode I fracture toughness K I C · K II C is about 3.5 times K I C, and KmC is about 1.2 times K I C.

A UNIVERSAL CRACK EXTENSION CRITERION BASED ON THE EQUIVALENT STRESS GRADIENT:I.THEORY AND NUMERICAL VERIFICATION

In this contribution,the microscopic fracture mechanism and extension criterion for mixed type crack in ductile material under plane mixed mode loading are investigated in details.A universal extension criterion for the mixed type crack,i.e.the crack propagates along the direction of the maximum gradient of equivalent stress,is suggested.This new criterion is used to predict the propagation direction of mixed type crack,showing a good agreement with other theories for different types of mode mixity.Moreover,the numerical verification is also carried out for the case of an edge crack with different mixed mode loadings.Finally,a potential application to three-dimensional fracture in the ductile material induced by holes is also discussed.