| Abstract: | When a thermoplastic specimen is tested in flexural fatigue, the viscoelastic behavior of the material combines with the heat dissipation mechanism to generate an equilibrium temperature distribution. In order to locate the starting point of an eventual fatigue crack in the most stressed section of a particular geometry, it is important to know where the temperature reaches its maximum value. A first mathematical model has been proposed to evaluate the temperature distribution across the thickness of the specimen. Solutions have been obtained analytically and by a finite difference method. A comparison of the solutions enabled us to optimize the mesh size, the relaxation factor and the convergence criterion in the finite difference scheme in order to get results within a chosen accuracy. Preliminary test results are given and compared with the theoretical temperature distribution for two thermoplastics, nylon 66 and acetal homopolymer. |
