Singularity parametersε andκ for interface cracks in transversely isotropic piezoelectric bimaterials

Two parameters, and (Suo et al., 1992), are of key importance in fracture mechanics of piezoelectric material interfaces. In this paper, it is shown, for any transversely isotropic piezoelectric (TIP) bimaterial, that one of the two parameters and always vanishes but the other one remains non-zero. Physically, it means that the non-oscillating crack-tip generalized stress field singularity exists for some TIP bimaterials (with vanishing ). Consequently, TIP bimaterials can be classified into two classes: one with vanishing performed crack tip generalized stress field oscillating singularity and the other one with vanishing is independent from the oscillating singularity. Some numerical results for and are given too.     

Fracture mechanics of piezoelectric materials

This paper presents an analysis of crack problems in homogeneous piezoelectrics or on the interfaces between two dissimilar piezoelectric materials based on the continuity of normal electric displacement and electric potential across the crack faces. The explicit analytic solutions are obtained for a single crack in an infinite piezoelectric or on the interface of piezoelectric bimaterials. For homogeneous materials it is found that the normal electric displacement D₂, induced by the crack, is constant along the crack faces which depends only on the remote applied stress fields. Within the crack slit, the perturbed electric fields induced by the crack are also constant and not affected by the applied electric displacement fields. For bimaterials, generally speaking, an interface crack exhibits oscillatory behavior and the normal electric displacement D₂ is a complex function along the crack faces. However, for bimaterials, having certain symmetry, in which an interface crack displays no oscillatory behavior, it is observed that the normal electric displacement D₂ is also constant along the crack faces and the electric field E₂ has the singularity ahead of the crack tip and has a jump across the interface. Energy release rates are established for homogeneous materials and bimaterials having certain symmetry. Both the crack front parallel to the poling axis and perpendicular to the poling axis are discussed. It is revealed that the energy release rates are always positive for stable materials and the applied electric displacements have no contribution to the energy release rates. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Dynamic crack growth along an elastoplastic bimaterial interface

Summary The near-tip stress and deformation rate fields of a crack dynamically propagating along an interface between dissimilar elastic-plastic bimaterials are presented in this paper. The elastic-plastic materials are characterised by theJ ₂-flow theory with linear plastic hardening. The solutions are assumed to be of variable-separable form with a power-law singularity in the radial direction. Two distinct solutions corresponding to the tensile and shear solutions exist with slightly different singularity strengths and very different mixities at the crack tip. The phenomenon of discrete and determinate mixities at the interfacial crack tip is confirmed in dynamic crack growth. This is not an artifact of the variable-separable solution assumption, arising from the linear-hardening material model. The dynamic crack analysis shows that the mixity of the near-tip field is mainly determined by the given material parameters and affected slightly by the crack propagation velocity. A significant variation of the mixity is observed near to the coalescing point of the tensile and shear solutions. The strength of the singularity is almost determined by the smaller strain-hardening alone, and dynamic inertia decreases the stress intensity. The asymptotic solutions reveal that the crack propagation velocity changes only the stress field of the tensile mode significantly. With increasing the crack propagation velocity, the stress singularity of the tensile solutions decreases obviously and the stress triaxiality at the tip (=0) falls considerably at the unity effective stress. These observations imply that the fracture toughness of the interface crack under tensile mode may be significantly higher than that under quasi-static conditions.     

The Coulombic traction on the surfaces of an interface crack in dielectric/piezoelectric or metal/piezoelectric bimaterials

This paper deals with the Coulombic traction usually neglected, but inherently acting, on the surfaces of an interface crack in dielectric/piezoelectric or metal/piezoelectric bimaterials. The dielectric material phase is treated as a special kind of piezoelectric material with a little piezoelectricity, whereas the metal phase is treated as another special kind of piezoelectric material with an extremely large permittivity and an extremely small piezoelectricity. The permittivity of the medium inside the crack gap is accounted for either. The normal electric displacement component and the Coulombic traction on the crack surfaces are unknown, and are determined from a cubic equation deduced from the extended Stroh formula. Numerical results for the Coulombic traction in both kinds of bimaterials reveal that in most cases its magnitude is remarkable and cannot be entirely neglected when the applied electric field is higher. It is concluded that in most cases the Coulombic traction yields significant influence on the effective stress intensity factor at the crack tip and may influence the fracture behavior in such kinds of bimaterials. As compared to homogenous piezoelectric materials, the metal phase always decreases the Coulombic traction, whereas the dielectric phase decreases it under the negative electric field and increases it under the positive electric field. In all cases, BaTiO₃ always yields a much larger Coulombic traction than PZT-4.     

Steady propagate crack in a transverse isotropic piezoelectric material considering the permittivity of the medium in the crack gap

This paper derives an exact solution of the steady propagated crack in a transverse isotropic piezoelectric material plane. In order to consider the medium in the crack gap, two cases have been studied. In the first case, the permittivity of the medium in the crack gap _a is far less than that of piezoelectric materials _m. Therefore, the electric induction in the gap (Pak, 1990; Suo et al., 1992) is neglected. In the second case, the permittivity of the medium in the crack gap is comparable with that of piezoelectric material. This electric induction is considered. This result shows that the consideration of the induction has reduced the electric displacement intensity factor k ₄. Due to the influence of the dynamic effect, the elastic constants have become smaller as the dynamic anisotropy case. It must be pointed out that only the small speed of steady propagated crack is considered. Therefore, according to Sosa et al. (1999, 2001), the magnetic effect is neglected.     

Periodical collinear air containing cracks in a piezoelectric material

This paper derives an exact solution of periodical collinear cracks in a piezoelectric material plane. Two cases have been studied. In the first case, the permittivity of air _ais far less than that of piezoelectric material _m. Therefore, the electric induction in the air (Pak, 1990; Suo et al., 1992) may be neglected. In the second case, the permittivity of air is comparable with that of piezoelectric material. This electric induction is considered. Using the conformal mapping method, this problem can be deduced into a Riemann–Hilbert problem and solved in closed form. It is shown that the exact linear theory results (McMeeking, 1989; Gun and Fan, 1999) can be accepted when the remote stress ₂and ratio _m/_aare small. If they are large, the approximate nonlinear boundary conditions (Deeg, 1980; Pak, 1990; Suo et al., 1992) are suitable.     

The boundary-layer effect on the crack tip field in mechanism-based strain gradient plasticity

The theory of mechanism-based strain gradient (MSG) plasticity involves two material length parameters, namely the intrinsic material length land the mesoscale cell size l , which are on the order of a few microns and 0.1 m, respectively. Prior studies suggest that l has essentially no effect on the macroscopic quantities, but it may affect the local stress distribution. We demonstrate in this paper that there is a boundary layer effect associated with l in MSG plasticity, and the thickness of the boundary layer is on the order of   l ² big/l. By neglecting this boundary layer effect, a stress-dominated asymptotic field around a crack tip in MSG plasticity is obtained. This asymptotic field is valid at a distance to the crack tip between l and l(i.e., from 0.1 m to a few microns). The stress in this asymptotic field has an approximate singularity of r ^–2/3, which is more singular than not only the HRR field in classical plasticity but also the classical elastic Kfield (r ^–1/2). The stress level in this asymptotic field is two to three times higher than the HRR field, which provides an alternative mechanism for cleavage fracture in ductile materials observed in experiments.     

On the analysis of tunneling data for A15 superconductors

We examine the applicability of the standard McMillan inversion of Eliashberg's equations for superconductors with a nonconstant electronic density of statesN(). We do this usign simple models forN() and a realistically shapedN() taken from recent band structure work for Nb₃Sn. It turns out that peak structure inN() near _F may lead to gross errors in the derived Eliashberg function ²F() when the energy dependence ofN() is omitted in the inversion procedure. For Nb₃Sn, this leads to a 40% overestimate of when ²F() is evaluated via the standard McMillan program.     

Creep crack growth in brittle materials

During steady state crack growth by diffusive cavitation at grain boundaries, crack tip fields are relaxed due to the presence of a cavitation zone. In the present analysis, analytic solutions for the actual crack tip stress fields and the crack velocity in the presence of cavitation zone consisting of continuously distributed cavities ahead of the crack tip are derived using the smeared volume concept. Results indicate that the r ^–1/2 singularity is now attenuated to r ^{–1/2 +} (0<<1/2) singularity. The singularity attenuation parameter is a function of the crack velocity and material parameters. The crack growth rate is related to the mode I stress intensity factor K by K ² at relatively high load, K ⁿ at intermediate load, and approaches zero at small load near K _th. Meanwhile, the cavitation zone extends further into the material due to the stress relaxation at the crack tip and the subsequent stress redistribution. Such relaxation effects become very distinct at low crack velocity and low applied load. Key words: Creep crack growth, brittle material, diffusive cavity growth, sintering stress, crack tip stress field.     

Dielectric Properties of Melt-Grown Cd1 – xZnxTe Crystals

The real (") and imaginary (") parts of the complex dielectric permittivity of Cd_{1 – x} Zn _x Te (x= 0.1–0.2) crystals are measured as a function of temperature and frequency. The "-vs.-temperature data show a maximum, and " rises rapidly at about the same temperature. This behavior is interpreted in terms of compositional fluctuations, structural defects, and the associated internal electric fields.     

Review Nonlinearity in piezoelectric ceramics

The paper presents an overview of experimental evidence and present understanding of nonlinear dielectric, elastic and piezoelectric relationships in piezoelectric ceramics. This topic has gained an increasing recognition in recent years due to the use of such materials under extreme operating conditions, for example in electromechanical actuators and high power acoustic transducers. Linear behaviour is generally confined to relatively low levels of applied electric field and stress, under which the dielectric, elastic and piezoelectric relationships are described well by the standard piezoelectric constitutive equations. Nonlinear relationships are observed above certain threshold values of electric field strength and mechanical stress, giving rise to field and stress-dependent dielectric (), elastic (s) and piezoelectric (d) coefficients. Eventually, strong hysteresis and saturation become evident above the coercive field/stress due to ferroelectric/ferroelastic domain switching. The thermodynamic method provides one approach to describing nonlinear behaviour in the intermediate field region, prior to large scale domain switching, by extending the piezoelectric constitutive equations to include nonlinear terms. However, this method seems to fail in its prediction of the amplitude and phase of high frequency harmonic components in the field-induced polarisation and strain waveforms, which arise directly from the nonlinear dielectric and piezoelectric relationships. A better fit to experimental data is given by the empirical Rayleigh relations, which were first developed to describe nonlinear behaviour in soft magnetic materials. This approach also provides an indication of the origins of nonlinearity in piezoelectric ceramics, in terms of ferroelectric domain wall translation (at intermediate field/stress levels) and domain switching (at high field/stress levels). The analogy with magnetic behaviour is also reflected in the use of Preisach-type models, which have been successfully employed to describe the hysteretic path-dependent strain-field relationships in piezoelectric actuators. The relative merits and limitations of the different modelling methods are compared and possible areas of application are identified.An erratum to this article can be found at     

Prediction of the Period of Initiation of Macrocracks in Notched Specimens

We propose an experimental–numerical procedure for the prediction the number of cycles N _i to the initiation of a fatigue crack near stress concentrators in specimens of complex shape. This procedure is based on direct measurements of the opening displacements of the concentrator and the numerical evaluation of the total range of local strains * or its elastic component near the tip of the notch. The applicability of this procedure to the prediction of N _i is experimentally checked for specimens in the form of strips cut out from rolled sheets of V95pchT2 alloy with stress concentrators of different geometries.     

Notch tip stress distribution in strain hardening materials

Using the results of elastic-plastic stress analyses for notched bars, it is shown that a modified form of slip-line field solution can satisfactorily explain the variation of longitudinal stress ahead of notch tips in strain hardening materials.

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Résumé En utilisant les résultats d'analyses de contrainte élastoplastique dans le cas de barres entaillées, on montre qu'il est possible d'utiliser une forme simplifiée de solution du champ des lignes de glissement pour expliquer de façon satisfaisante la variation des contraintes longitudinales en avant d'extrémités d'entaille dans des matériaux susceptibles d'un écrouissage.

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Nomenclature _yy longitudinal tensile stress in the notch tip plastic zone - _xx transverse stress in the x-direction - _zz transverse stress in the z-direction - k yield stress in shear - ₀ yield stress in tension - ₀ ^* strain hardened yield stress (flow stress) - _{0/* c} flow stress at notch tip - _total total strain _pl plastic strain _l principal strain - _{1 c} maximum principal strain at notch tip - _1pl plastic strain in they-direction - _{1 cp1} E_{1 pl} at notch tip - _eff effective plastic strain - _{c eff eff} at notch tip - ₀ yield strainC Stress decay constant in the notch tip region - /e_pl linear strain hardening rate - n strain hardening exponent in power hardening law - 2 flank angle of notch - distance from notch tip - p notch tip radius - k _I applied stress intensity for Mode I loading - E Young's modulus - V _c crack tip opening displacement     

Screw dislocation interacting with interfacial and interface cracks in piezoelectric bimaterials

Interface and interfacial cracks interacting with screw dislocations in piezoelectric bimaterials subjected to antiplane mechanical and in-plane electrical loadings are studied within the framework of linear piezoelectricity theory. Straight dislocations with the Burgers vector normal to the isotropic basal plane near the interface or interfacial crack are considered. The dislocations are characterized by a discontinuous electric potential across the slip plane and are subjected to a line-force and a line-charge at the core. An explicit solution for the screw dislocation in piezoelectric bimaterial with straight interface is found based on the solution of a similar problem for infinite homogenous medium. The obtained relation is independent of the nature of singularity. This fundamental result is used to analyze dislocation interacting with a set of collinear interfacial cracks in piezoelectric bimaterials. Three solutions for the screw dislocation interacting with a semi-infinite crack, finite crack, and edge crack between two bonded dissimilar piezoelectric materials are obtained in closed-form. These solutions can be used as Green’s functions for the analyses of interfacial cracks in piezoelectric bimaterials.     

The crack tip strain field of AISI 4340 Part II Experimental measurements

Crack tip strain maps have been measured for AISI 4340 high strength steel. No significant creep was observed. The measured values of CTOD were greater than expected from the HRR model. Crack tip branching was observed in every experiment. The direction of crack branching was in the same direction as a major ridge#x201D; of _yy strain, which in turn was in the same direction as predicted by the HRR model. Furthermore, the measured magnitudes of the _yy strain in this same direction were in general greater than the values predicted by the HRR model. This indicates more plasticity in the crack tip region than expected from the HRR model. This greater plasticity could be related to the larger than expected CTOD values. The following discrepancies between the measured strain fields for AISI 4340 and the HRR predictions are noteworthy: (1) The crack branching. (2) Values of CTOD significantly higher than predicted by HRR. (3) The major ridge of _yy strain an angle of about 60° with the direction of overall propagation of the fatigue precrack, in which the measured magnitudes of the _yy strain were greater than the values predicted by the HRR model. (4) Asymmetric shape of the plastic zone as measured by the _yy strain. (5) Values of shear strain _xy significantly higher than predicted by the HRR model.     

The edge interface crack

An analysis of a crack lying along an interface between two elastically dissimilar quarter-planes, and breaking the free surface is given. The method of distributed dislocations is employed and the nominal stress field is taken to be uniform along the length of the line of the crack. Models for crack tip behaviour are discussed and it is shown that a simplified quadrature can be used to extract the crack extension force for cases where small-scale contact obtains. Values of the crack extension force are given, displayed on the , diagram.     

Cyclic Crack Resistance of High-Strength Cast Irons at the Stages of Initiation and Growth of a Macrocrack

On investigating high-strength cast irons of the austenitic, ferritic, and pearlite-ferritic classes, we have experimentally corroborated that the relations _y ^* vs. N _i, d ^* vs. N _i, and ^* vs. N _i obtained at the stage of initiation of a fatigue macrocrack in air and a corrosive medium (3.5% NaCl solution) can be transformed into the relations da/dN vs. K and da/dN vs. ^*. The latter describe the stage of macrocrack propagation within the framework of the force and strain approaches, respectively. We have shown that the strain parameters, as compared with the force ones, are 1.5–2 times more sensitive to the influence of a corrosive medium on the cyclic crack resistance of high-strength cast irons.     

On saturation-strip model of a permeable crack in a piezoelectric ceramic

Summary. The saturation-strip model for piezoelectric crack is re-examined in a permeable environment to analyze fracture toughness of a piezoelectric ceramic. In this study, a permeable crack is modeled as a vanishing thin but finite rectangular slit with surface charge deposited along crack surfaces. This permeable saturation crack model reveals that there exists a possible leaky mode for electrical field, which allows applied electric field passing through the dielectric medium inside a crack. By taking into account the leaky mode effect, a first-order approximated solution is obtained with respect to slit height, h ₀, in the analysis of electrical and mechanical fields in the vicinity of a permeable crack tip. The permeable saturation crack model presented here also considers the effect of charge distribution on crack surfaces, which may be caused by any possible charge-discharge process in the dielectric medium inside the crack. A closed form solution is obtained for the permeable crack perpendicular to the poling direction under both mechanical as well electrical loads. Both local and global energy release rates are calculated. Remarkably, the global energy release rate for a permeable crack has an expression, where M is elastic modulus, a is the half crack length, is permittivity constant, and e is piezoelectric constant. This result is in a broad agreement with some experimental observations and may be served as the fracture criterion for piezoelectric materials. This contribution elucidates how an applied electric field affects crack growth in piezoelectric ceramic through its interaction with permeable environment surrounding a crack. The author would like to acknowledge the support from the Academic Senate Committee on Research at University of California (Berkeley) through the fund of BURNL-07427-11503-EGSLI.     

Microdeformation in partially compatible blends of poly(styrene-acrylonitrile) and polycarbonate

Dilute 3-component 1-phase solutions in methylene chloride of poly(styrene-acrylonitrile) PSAN and polycarbonate PC are used to cast phase separated thin films. Films of pure PSAN, pure PC and five intermediate compositions are examined. The films are bonded to copper grids and strained at a constant rate of 4.1 × 10^–6sec^–1. The median tensile strain _v for void formation is determined using an optical microscope and the regions surrounding the voids are examined by TEM. At room temperature and slow strain rates both PSAN and PC plastically deform by shear yielding. For pure PSAN _v was found to be 0.13 whereas for PC _v exceeds 0.23. The addition of the more ductile polymer PC to PSAN at weight fractionsx forx 0.4 decreases _v. In this case voids form in crazes at the boundaries between the PC-rich inclusion and the PSAN-rich matrix. When the PC content is increased tox = 0.8, _v approaches 0.23. The effect of physical ageing (annealing belowT _g the glass transition temperature) on the mode of plastic deformation was also examined over the same compositional range. Physical ageing was found to suppress shear deformation and favour crazing in PSAN and PSAN-rich phases. Because crazes are more susceptible to breakdown than DZ's (shear deformation zones), physical ageing results in a marked decrease in _v. The breakdown statistics of these phase separated partially compatible blends was found to follow a Weibull distribution in strain from which two parameters may be extracted: the Weibull modulus and _w the Weibull scale parameter. is a measure of the breadth of distribution of void initiation and _w is a measure of the median strain to void formation in the films. The behaviour of _w was found to approximately mirror _v. The Weibull modulus appears to be primarily controlled by the matrix phase.     

Residual strength prediction for aircraft panels with Multiple Site Damage,using the “EPFEAM” for stable crack growth analysis

In this paper, a new analytical method for solving stable crack propagation problems in a ductile panel with a row of cracks, is presented. The main purpose of the present study is to estimate the maximum load carrying capacity of such panels accurately. The so called Elastic Plastic Finite Element Alternating Method (Pyo et al. (1994) was extended to account for the propagating cracks. The crack propagation algorithm utilizes the analytic crack solution to release the stresses ahead the crack tip. The T _inf ^sup* integral is employed as the crack extension criterion. This integral parameter accounts for the near tip stress-strain singularity and its critical values for crack propagation can be extracted from the P-a curve of single cracked specimen case. The present method can be applied to the problems of the fuselage skin of aging airplanes, in which a row of cracks develop (MSD; Multiple Site Damage) from rivet holes. The load carrying capacity of such damaged structure reduces by a considerable amount. In order to predict the behavior near the critical load, one must account for plastic deformation, if the material is ductile. Furthermore, the maximum load carried by the structure is often reached after some amount of crack propagation. In this paper, a series of analyses have been conducted and their results compare with the available experimental data.