Prefatigue hysteresis effects on viscoelastic crack propagation

Prefatigue hysteresis effects on viscoelastic crack-propagation velocity were investigated through velocity-gauge techniques at different temperature levels. It was found that prefatigue effects accelerate elastic predominance in viscoelastic dynamic crack propagation, approaching elastic brittle fracture as shown by Berry's equation. This results in greater dynamic crack-propagation velocity at any given test temperature level.