| Affiliation: | aHead of Tribology Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, WA 6009, Australia |
| Abstract: | The well-known essential work of fracture model, describing the linear relationship between fracture energy and un-cracked ligament length, is further extended to allow for any non-linearity in the relationship as this can potentially lead to a large error in determination of the essential work of fracture. Two different polymers, described in the literature, were chosen to show how the essential work of fracture of a polymer can still be determined in cases when a non-linearity exists in the relationship between fracture energy and ligament length. The new model specifies the condition under which the linear relationship exists, and the condition under which the non-linearity needs to be considered. |
