Fracture toughness and fracture mechanisms of PBT/PC/IM blend

The static and impact fracture toughnesses of a polybutylene terephthalate/polycarbonate/impact modifier (PBT/PC/IM) blend were studied at different temperatures. The static fracture toughness of the blend was evaluated via the specific fracture work concept and the J-integral analysis. A comparison of these two analytical methods showed that the specific essential fracture work, W _e, was equivalent to the obtained by the ASTM E813-81 procedure, representing the crack initiation resistance of the material. The discrepancy between W _e and of ASTM E813-89 was caused by the extra energy component in consumed by a 0.2 mm crack growth. Impact fracture toughness was also analysed using the specific essential fracture work approach. When the fracture was elastic, W _e was equivalent to the critical potential energy release rate, G _IC, obtained via LEFM analysis. Temperature and strain-rate effects on the fracture toughness were also studied. The increase in impact toughness with temperature was attributed to two different toughening mechanisms, namely, the relaxation processes of the rubbery particles and the parent polymers in a relatively low-temperature range and thermal blunting of the crack tip at higher temperatures. The enhancement in static fracture toughness at temperatures below — 60 °C was thought to be caused by plastic crack-tip blunting, but the monotonic reduction in yield stress was largely responsible for the toughness decreasing with higher temperatures. The temperature-dependent fracture toughness data obtained in static tests could be horizontally shifted to match roughly the data for the impact tests, indicating the existence of a time-temperature equivalence relationship.     

Fracture toughness and fracture mechanisms of PBT/PC/IM blends PART IV Impact toughness and failure mechanisms of PBT/PC blends without impact modifier

In this part of the series, the impact behaviour of the PBT and PC blends without impact modifier was studied. Failure mechanism of the blends under various conditions was discussed. It was found that the key toughening process, i.e. interfacial debonding-cavitation, was disabled when the blends were subjected to impact loading. Hence, the fracture of the thick PBT/PC specimens with strong interface occurred under plane-strain condition. Their impact toughness obeys the rule of mixtures and synergistic toughening could not be achieved. When thinner specimens were tested, the fracture took place under non-plane-strain condition. But, the toughness of the blends was much lower than the value predicted by the rule of mixtures. Negative blending effect was obtained. Study on the strain rate effect suggests that under impact loading, the PC domains in the blends are subjected to an additional plastic constraint imposed by the neighboring PBT matrix, which is more rigid at a higher strain rate. Since fracture of the PC is highly sensitive to the plastic constraint at the crack-tip, the PBT imposed high plastic constraint promotes brittle fracture of the PC, leading to a deteriorated impact resistance. Evidences from TEM, SEM and OM studies support the mechanism proposed. Based on this mechanism, some suggestions on the selection of polymer components and design of microstructure for rigid-rigid polymer blends are also given.     

Fracture toughness and fracture mechanisms of PBT/PC/IM blends: Part V Effect of PBT-PC interfacial strength on the fracture and tensile properties of the PBT/PC blends

To investigate the effect of PBT-PC interfacial strength on the fracture toughness and toughening mechanisms of the PBT/PC system, a series of PBT/PC blends with different content of in situ formed PBT-PC copolymers were made by melt blending. The in situ copolymer was separately prepared via reactive blending of the PBT and PC in the presence of a transesterification catalyst in a twin-screw extruder for a few minutes. The reactive extrudate (RE) was studied using a DSC and the existence of the PBT-PC copolymer in the RE was confirmed. Microstructure characterizations of the PBT/PC/RE blends revealed that the domain sizes of the PBT and PC decrease and the PBT-PC interfacial strength increases with the RE content. Compared with the PBT/PC blend, all the PBT/PC/RE blends have higher yield strength, elongation at break as well as tensile modulus. The quasi-static fracture tests show that fracture toughness of the blends increases with the RE content. Since the highest toughness was obtained with the blend having the highest RE content (7.5%), it is not certain at this stage whether adding more than 7.5% RE will further improve the fracture toughness. The impact toughness of the PBT/PC/RE blends was found to decrease with the increase of the PBT-PC interfacial strength, which confirms the failure mechanisms proposed in the Part-4 of this series.     

Fracture toughness and fracture mechanisms of polybutylene-terephthalate/polycarbonate/ impact-modifier blends

A series of polybutylene-terephthalate/polycarbonate (PBT/PC) blends with different compositions were prepared using a twin-screw extruder. The morphologies of the blends were revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that a 50/50 PBT/PC blend possessed a bicontinuous structure and the other blends had a dispersed phase of either PBT or PC depending on which was the minor component. A relatively strong interface was observed in the blends with 20%, 40% and 50% PBT; but poor interfacial adhesion was found in the blends with 60% and 80% PBT. The strength of the interfacial boundary was believed to depend on the composition and blending conditions of the individual blend. Fracture experiments showed that the sharp-notch fracture toughness of PC could be significantly increased by mixing with up to 50% PBT without losing its modulus and yield stress. The toughening mechanisms involved in the fracture processes of the blends were studied using both SEM and TEM together with single-edge-double-notched-bend (SEDNB) specimens. It was found that in the toughened blends the growing crazes initiated by the triaxial stress in front of the crack tip were stabilized by the PC domains. The debonding-cavitation mechanism occurred at the PBT/PC interface, which relieved the plane-strain constraint and promoted shear deformation in both PBT and PC. This plastic deformation absorbed a tremendous amount of energy. Crack-interface bridging by the PC domains was clearly verified by the TEM study. Thus, the PC domains not only stabilized the growing crazes they also bridged crack surfaces after the crack has passed by. This effect definitely caused a large plastic-damage zone and hence a high crack resistance. Poor crack resistances of the blends rich in PBT was caused by the poor interfacial adhesion between PBT and PC. In these polymer blends, the growing crazes easily developed into cracks, which subsequently passed through the weak interface of PBT/PC and finally produced fast unstable fracture.     

Fracture mechanisms and fracture toughness in semicrystalline polymer nanocomposites

Polymer nanocomposites, especially nanoclay composites, have received much attention in recent years. While it is the functional properties of these composites that are the driving force, good mechanical properties are necessary in most applications. Although claims are made that the mechanical properties of nanocomposites should be excellent, in practice the mechanical properties are often disappointing. Soft or hard spherical particles can toughen semicrystalline polymers, but plate-like nanoclay particles have not produced any significant toughening action and frequently cause significant embrittlement. In this paper the toughening of semicrystalline polymers with nanoparticles, and particularly the difference in behaviour of spherical and plate-like particles is reviewed.     

Fracture toughness and fracture of WC-Co composites

Critical stress intensity factor, and related parameters have been measured in three-point bending for 18 different combinations of different volume fractions of cobalt (5 to 37%) and grain size of tungsten carbide (0.7, 1.1 and 2.2 m). In particular, a study was made of the correlations between the strength and mechanical and microstructural parameters, such as ¯L _Co,C _WC, ¯L _Co/¯D _WC, ¯L _Co ² /¯D _WC,H _V and wear resistance. A hypothesis for the mechanism of fracture has been proposed following an analysis of these results and a study of the mode of fracture.     

Fracture toughness and fracture energy measurements on aluminium alloys

Methods of conducting and analysing instrumented Charpy impact tests have been discussed and applied in measuring the initiation fracture toughness, $\text{K}{}_{\mathrm{Ic}}$, of two precipitation hardened Al-alloys.For full speed impact tests a method for indirectly deriving fracture load from “system stiffness” and “time to fracture” has been found to be the most suitable. In the lower speed impact tests measured fracture load has been used directly to calculate $\text{K}{}_{\mathrm{Ic}}$ In these tests an energy method superficially resembling “specific surface energy” has also been used to calculate $\text{K}{}_{\mathrm{Ic}}$.     

Increased fracture toughness of ceramics by energy-dissipative mechanisms

A theoretical model for the fracture toughness of ceramics is developed which takes into account such energy-dissipative mechanisms as stress-induced microcracking or phase transformation. To establish the general fracture criterion, a Griffith-type energy balance is employed. This energy balance comprises the elastic energy, the fracture surface work consumed in the process zone at the crack tip, the energy dissipated in the dissipation zone and the energy stored by residual stresses. Stress-induced microcracking is considered in more detail. An expression for the dependence of the fracture toughness on the density of microcracks, the amount of residual stresses caused by thermal expansion mismatch between the ceramic matrix and small particles embedded in it and the volume fraction of these particles is derived. The final results are used to state conditions necessary for the fracture toughness to be increased. The theory agrees well with experimental results taken from literature (alumina with zirconia particles).     

Fracture toughness and failure mechanisms in unreinforced and long-glass-fibre-reinforced PA66/PP blends

In this paper unreinforced and long-glass-fibre-reinforced PA66/PP blends with different glass-fibre sizing were studied with respect to their fracture toughness determined by the typical K_c method. The fracture surfaces of these blends were studied by scanning electron microscopy in order to characterize the failure mechanisms. For the unreinforced blends a decrease in fracture toughness was observed when 25 wt% of polyamide (PA) was added to the polypropylene (PP) matrix, compared with the plain PP and PA matrices. On the other hand an increase in fracture toughness was observed when 25 wt% of PP was added to the PA matrix. This was explained by the differences in thermal expansion of PP and PA. The fracture toughness of the long-glass-fibre (LGF) composites were not affected by the glass-fibre sizing up to a PA/PP ratio of 50/50. After the phase inversion from a continuous PP to a continuous PA phase in the matrix (between PA/PP ratios of 50/50 and 75/25) the PA glass-fibre sized composite showed higher fracture toughness than the PP sized. This was explained by the change of the fibre-related failure mechanism from frequent fibre pull-out to fibre fracture. In addition the matrix affected the fracture toughness of the PA/PP75/25 blend with PA glass-fibre sizing in a positive way, resulting in the highest fracture toughness observed in this study.     

Fracture toughness and crack morphology in indentation fracture of brittle materials

The relationship between the indentation fracture toughness, K _c, and the fractal dimension of the crack, D, has been examined on the indentation-fractured specimens of SiC and AIN ceramics, a soda-lime glass and a WC-8%Co hard metal. A theoretical analysis of the crack morphology based on a fractal geometry model was then made to correlate the fractal dimension of the crack, D, with the fracture toughness, K _IC, in brittle materials. The fractal dimension of the indentation crack, D, was found to be in the range 1.024–1.145 in brittle materials in this study. The indentation fracture toughness, K _c, increased with increasing fractal dimension, D, of the crack in these materials. According to the present analysis, the fracture toughness, K _IC, can be expressed as the following function of the fractal dimension of the crack, D, such that $$In K_{IC} = {1 \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 2}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} 2}\{ In[2\Gamma E/(1 - \nu ^2 )] - (D - 1)In r_L \}$$ Where Γ is the work done in creating a unit crack surface, E is Young's modulus, v is Poisson's ratio, and r _L is r _min/r _max, the ratio of the lower limit, r _min, to the upper limit, r _max, of the scale length, r, between which the crack exhibits a fractal nature (r _min ?r?r _max). The experimental data (except for WC-8%Co hard metal) obtained in this study and by other investigators have been fitted to the above equation. The factors which affect the prediction of the value of K _IC from the above equation have been discussed.     

Effects of microstructure on crack tip fields and fracture toughness in PC/ABS polymer blends

Numerical simulations are performed in order to gain a better understanding of the effects of various microstructural features and toughening mechanisms in amorphous PC/ABS polymer blends. Crack tip loading under global small-scale yielding conditions is considered with the blend microstructure explicitly resolved in the near-tip process zone. Constitutive models are employed which account for large visco-plastic deformations, the characteristic softening- rehardening behavior of glassy polymers, as well as the effect of plastic dilatancy in the ABS phase due to rubber particle cavitation. The influence of blend composition and morphology on the local stress distribution and the development of the plastic zone at a stationary crack tip are analyzed. Furthermore, crack propagation and the evolution of fracture toughness are studied using different cohesive surface models for failure in the different phases of the blend microstructure.     

PC/PBT共混物的结晶行为研究

采用差示扫描量热法(DSC)研究PC/PBT共混物结晶行为及酯交换反应对共混物结晶行为的影响.结果表明,在实验范围内,PC的引入对PBT的结晶起到促进作用,提高其结晶速率,缩短了结晶时间,但对PBT的成核机理和晶体生长方式没有发生很大的改变.共混时间延长,共混物中PBT的结晶能力增强,结晶度增大.     

核壳结构改性剂对PBT/PC共混物的增韧作用

采用丙烯腈-丁二烯-苯乙烯（ABS）核壳结构改性剂增韧聚对苯二甲酸丁二醇酯（PBT）/聚碳酸酯（PC）共混物。动态力学测试（DMTA）结果表明,PBT与PC为热力学不相容体系,ABS的引入导致PBT、PC玻璃化转变温度相互靠近,相容性提高;差示扫描量热（DSC）研究结果表明,随着ABS的加入,PBT/PC体系中PBT的...     

Fracture toughness characterization of several aluminum alloys in semi-brittle fracture

A method has recently been developed for determining a nonlinear fracture toughness parameter defined by the relation $\text{G}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{c}}\text{=}\text{C}\text{?}\text{G}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$ where G_c is the critical elastic strain energy rate as defined by Irwin. The $\text{C}\text{?}$ term is a function of the nonlinearity of the load-displacement test record and has been evaluated using the three parameter Ramberg-Osgood approach, although other curve fitting techniques could be applied as well. The method is quite straightforward and is applicable to plane stress, plane strain and mixed mode testing although only plane stress conditions are considered in this paper. For the case of a linear load-displacement record $\text{C}\text{?}\text{→ 1}$ and $\text{G}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$ reduces to the linear elastic result.The toughness parameter $\text{G}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$ has been evaluated for a number of high strength aluminum alloys and compared with published G_c values for these materials. The tests were conducted on center-cracked sheets of 2014-T6, 2024-T81, 7075-T6 and 7475-T61 aluminum alloys under conditions of varying specimen geometry and displacement gage length. It was found that the values of $\text{G}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$ obtained from displacement readings with a gage length of 2 in. generally agreed with published values of $\text{G}{}_{\mathrm{c}}\text{=}\text{K}{}_{\mathrm{c}}{}^2\text{E}$. The $\text{G}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$ values were found to vary inversely with gage length and a/w ratios. The variation in values for $\text{G}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$ is of the same order of magnitude as the scatter in published values for G_c. However, $\text{G}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$ appears to be less sensitive than G_c to changes in a/w.     

PBT/PC共混体系相容性与力学性能的研究

利用聚对苯二甲酸丁二醇酯(PBT)与聚碳酸酯(PC)之间的酯交换反应,自制了PBT与PC的共聚产物作为PBT/PC共混体系的相容剂,讨论了相容剂对该共混体系综合性能的影响.结果表明,相容剂的加入改善了PBT与PC两相间的相容性,共混体系的强度和韧性得到协调.PBT/PC共混体系中组分PC不仅影响了组分PBT的结晶行为,其分子链还影响PBT分子链的有序排列,阻碍PBT的结晶,降低了PBT的成型收缩率.另一方面,PBT的存在也使得PC的耐溶剂性提高,且PBT的含量越高,体系耐溶剂性越强,同时使PC的流动性得以改善.     

Fracture toughness analysis of O-POSS/PLA composites assessed by essential work of fracture method

Essential work of fracture (EWF) method was employed to investigate the effect of the octavinylisobutyl based polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (O-POSS) addition in poly(lactic acid) (PLA) matrix on the fracture behavior of O-POSS/PLA composites. The 2 mm thick rectangular shaped PLA-matrix composites containing various weight ratios of O-POSS were injection molded after processing in a twin-screw extruder. Constant deformation rate tensile tests at room temperature were performed on double edge notched tensile (DENT) specimens with various ligament lengths. It was found that the addition of O-POSS to PLA improved the toughness. It was observed that a greater energy consumed after the maximum load reached on load–displacement curves for the composites. Optimum additive value was obtained at 7 wt% O-POSS.     

Fracture mechanisms and fracture mechanics at ultrasonic frequencies

Performing fatigue tests at ultrasonic frequencies, e.g. 20 000  Hz, allows one to perform experiments beyond 10⁹ and 10¹⁰ cycles within half a day or a week, respectively. The testing technique has led to the construction of fatigue machines of high technical standard. Use of the ultrasound technique to study the mechanisms of crack initiation in pure metal single crystals, in cast alloys with voids being crack initiation sites, and in complicated fibre-reinforced laminates is reported. Likewise, use of ultrasonic loading to study the mechanisms of crack propagation is discussed, as well as LEFM principles; especially when these principles cannot be applied. It is shown how crack growth retardation with increasing crack length is attained in fibre-reinforced laminates by the effect of fibre bridging. Additional experimental possibilities, e.g. random loading, variation of mean load, superposition of shear loads, variation of temperature and environment, and not only axial but also torsional loading at ultrasonic frequency, and recent research results are discussed.     

Comparisons of deformation and fracture behaviour of PC/ABS blend and ABS copolymer under dynamic shear loading

Abstract

The dynamic shear deformation and fracture characteristics of PC/ABS blend and ABS copolymer with regard to the relation between mechanical properties and strain rate, are studied experimentally using a torsional split Hopkinson bar at room temperature under strain rates ranging from 8 × 10² s^-1 to 3.4 × 10³ s^-1. Fracture phenomena are analysed by scanning electron microscopy and correlated with macroscopic behaviour. The relative properties and fracture mechanism of both polymers are also compared. Results show that strain rate enhances shear strength of both PC/ABS blend and ABS, but fracture shear strain tends to decrease with increasing strain rate. ABS exhibits better ductility and lower shear strength. For both polymers, strain rate sensitivity increases with increasing range of strain rate, while an inverse tendency occurs for activation volume. Higher strain rate sensitivity and lower activation volume are found in PC/ABS blend. PC/ABS blend fracture is dominated by mixed shearing and tearing, but ABS fracture shows only shearing. Due to the increasing deformation heat, fracture surface viscoplastic flow for both polymers increases with increasing strain rate, inducing lower flow resistance and lower fracture strain at higher stain rates. The viscoplastic flow behaviour in ABS is more active.