Griffith crack moving along the interface of two dissimilar piezoelectric materials

The problem of an anti-plane Griffith crack moving along the interface of dissimilar piezoelectric materials is solved by using the integral transform technique. It is shown from the result that the intensity factors of anti-plane stress and electric displacement are dependent on the speed of the Griffith crack as well as the material coefficients. When the two piezoelectric materials are identical, the present result will reduce to the result for the problem of an anti-plane moving Griffith crack in homogeneous piezoelectric materials. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Moving Dugdale crack along the interface of two dissimilar magnetoelectroelastic materials

In this paper, the concept of Dugdale crack model and Yoffe model is extended to propose a moving Dugdale interfacial crack model, and the interfacial crack between dissimilar magnetoelectroelastic materials under anti-plane shear and in-plane electric and magnetic loadings is investigated considering the magneto-electro-mechanical nonlinearity. It is assumed that the constant moving crack is magneto-electrically permeable and the length of the crack keeps constant. Fourier transform is applied to reduce the mixed boundary value problem of the crack to dual integral equations, which are solved exactly. The explicit expression of the size of the yield zone is derived, and the crack sliding displacement (CSD) is explicitly expressed. The result shows that the stress, electric and magnetic fields in the cracked magnetoelectroelastic material are no longer singular and the CSD is dependent on the loading, material properties and crack moving velocity. The current model can be reduced to the static interfacial crack case when the crack moving velocity is zero.     

The competition between the crack kinking away from the interface and crack propagation along the interface in elastic bicrystals

The problem analyzed is of the crack kinking away from the interface between the two different anisotropic materials. The attention is concentrated on the initiation of the crack kinking and the condition that the length of the crack segment that is leaving the interface is small in comparison to the crack segment that remains along the interface. The emphasis is placed to the application of the fracture mechanics concept for the interfacial crack that propagates dynamically between the two orthotropic materials. The simulations and calculations were done by application of the Mathematica ^® programming routine. The stress intensity factors and the energy release rate are obtained for the kinked crack, as functions of the corresponding values for the interfacial crack prior to kinking. The analysis was performed of the influence of anisotropy on the crack kinking versus crack propagating along the interface competition. Due to anisotropy the kinking is easier, i.e., it is easier for the crack to kink away from the interface into the “softer” of the two materials. The oscillatory index for the case of the dynamic crack growth along the interface between the two orthotropic materials increases with crack tip speed v and with increase of the difference in stiffnesses. The practical application of this analysis could be for the interface in the glued joints and protective coatings.     

T-stress evaluations of an interface crack in the materials with complex interfaces

This paper develops an interaction integral method for extracting the T-stress of an interface crack in the materials with complex interfaces. In numerical computations, the interaction integral should be converted into an equivalent domain formulation to ensure numerical precision. It can be found that the present domain formulation does not contain any terms related to material interfaces, namely, the interaction integral is domain-independent for material interfaces. As a deduction, the present interaction integral can be used to solve the T-stress for a crack located on a curved interface effectively. Combined with the extended finite element method, the interaction integral method is employed to solve several interface crack problems. Good accuracy can be obtained for the interface fracture of a typical bimaterial strip. Meanwhile, it can be noted that the T-stress converges to a stable value only when the integral domain reaches up to an enough size. Since it is extremely difficult to select a large enough integral domain without any interfaces for the materials with complex interfaces, the domain-independence of the present interaction integral for interfaces is practical significant. Due to this point, the interaction integral method will become a quite reliable and convenient technique to solve the T-stress of an interface crack in the materials with complex interfaces. Finally, the interfacial fracture problem is investigated for several representative centrosymmetric structures formed by two constituent materials.     

Three-dimensional simulation of crack extension in brittle polycrystalline materials

Crack extension resistance in brittle polycrystals was investigated from the viewpoint of three-dimensional microcrack evolution. Even in the case of macroscopically two-dimensional cracks, inhomogeneous distribution of microscopic stress along the crack front gives rise to three-dimensional structures of extended crack surfaces. Numerical simulations of macroscopic crack extension were carried out, which showed that three-dimensional distribution of grain-by-grain thermal stress leads to a significant increase in the crack extension resistance. It was concluded that three-dimensional interpretation on the microscopic inhomogeneity is necessary for the correct comprehension of macroscopic crack extension behavior in brittle polycrystals.     

Estimation of thermal properties of composite materials without instrumentation inside the samples

Recent contributions of parameter estimation in the measurement of thermal properties are of great importance. In comparison with other techniques such as steady state (hot guarded plate, etc.) or transient (line source method, flash method, etc.), the use of parameter estimation provides more information and, in most cases, produces faster results. With this technique the thermal conductivity and the volumetric specific heat are estimated simultaneously and as a function of time, temperature, or position. This method requires experimental data, such as transient temperature and heat flux measurements. Previously, the temperature measurements came from thermocouples embedded in the sample. These thermocouples are introduced in the sample either by drilling holes or by molding the material around a series of thermocouples. Both operations are time-consuming and costly and are needed for each sample. In this study, temperature measurements are made only on the two sides of the samples with thin resistance thermometers. Since the sensors are not inside the material, the effect of the thermal contact conductance between sensor and sample was first investigated. The value of this thermal contact conductance was estimated by using samples of high-conductivity material. Using these values, the estimated thermal properties obtained with surface temperature measurements are compared with values provided by other methods for several low-thermal conductivity materials; agreement has been very good.     

Stress field in a crack on the interface of materials irradiated with SH-waves

On the basis of the solution of the problem of diffraction of a field of plane SH-waves on a crack located on the interface of materials obtained by the authors earlier, we deduce asymptotic expressions for the stress intensity factors at the crack tips. The dependences of the stress intensity factors on the dimensionless crack length, the angle of incidence of the plane wave, and the mechanical and physical properties of the materials are investigated. The possibility of appearance of singularities of the stress intensity factors near the remote crack tip (relative to the source of radiation) for the tangential and critical angles of irradiation is demonstrated. It is shown that, for the critical angles of incidence, these singularities can appear only in perfect materials and that, in the presence of losses, the increase in the stress intensity factors is bounded. It is also demonstrated that the indicated effects are caused by the diffraction interaction of SH-waves with the crack tips. __________ Translated from Fizyko-Khimichna Mekhanika Materialiv, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 18–30, July–August, 2007.     

Low temperature stress growth and relaxation in crack sealing materials

Stress relaxation after a nonsteady uniaxial extension with finite strain of crack sealants is studied at low temperatures. The integral constitutive model is used and the first normal stress difference, obtained experimentally, is modelled. It was found that the stretched exponential relaxation occurs in the tested materials. The stress growth and the stress relaxation in the tested materials are very well described by the discussed model which contains only a small number of parameters.

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Résumé La relaxation des contraintes à la suite d'une extension uniaxiale non stable avec une tension finie sur les enduits étanches des fissures est étudiée à basses températures. Le modèle constitutif intégral est utilisé et la première différence des contraintes, obtenu expérimentalement, est modélisée. Les résultats montrent que la relaxation de l'étirement exponentiel a lieu dans les matériaux étudiés. La croissance et la relaxation des contraintes dans ces matériaux sont bien décrites par le modèle en question, qui ne contient qu'un petit nombre de paramètres.

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Editorial Note L. Zanzotto is a RILEM Senior member and a member of RILEM Technical Committee 152-PBM (Performance of Bituminous Materials).     

Boundary element analysis of dissimilar materials and interface crack

The highly-accurate BEM elastostatic program, which is especially useful for the analysis of dissimilar materials and interface cracks, is introduced in brief. By using this program, we can deal with the elastostatic poblems of isotropic or orthotropic dissimilar materials and also the bonded residual stress due to the mismatch of material constants. This paper shows some applications of the BEM program to the analysis of dissimilar materials and interface cracks considering the residual stress quantitatively, and also shows the method to evaluate the strength of dissimilar materials based on the interfacial fracture mechanics. Some experimental results and the evaluation on the strength of dissimilar materials are also presented.