A finite element analysis of fracture initiation in ductile/brittle periodically layered composites

A near-tip plane strain finite element analysis of a crack terminating at and normal to the interface in a laminate consisting of alternate brittle and ductile layers is conducted under mode-I loading. The studies are carried out for a system representing steel/alumina composite laminate. The Gurson constitutive model, which accounts for the ductile failure mechanisms of microvoid nucleation, growth and coalescence, is employed within the framework of small deformation plasticity theory. Evolution of plastic zone and damage in the ductile layer is monitored with increasing load. High plastic strain localization and microvoid damage accumulation are found to occur along the brittle/ductile interface at the crack-tip. Fracture initiation in the ductile phase is predicted and the conditions for crack renucleation in the brittle layer ahead of the crack are established for the system under consideration. Ductile fracture initiation has been found to occur before plasticity spreads in multiple ductile layers. Effects of material mismatch and yield strength on the plastic zone evolution are briefly discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Near-tip microcrack shielding in advanced ceramics

Recent manufacturing of advanced ceramics has developed phase transformation and cracks tilted or bridged to enhance ceramic‐inherent toughness. However, main crack and near‐tip microcracks interaction is another prominent means in toughening of the ceramic materials. In this study, mechanics of discrete model combined with alternative iterating numerical technique is developed and applied in assessment of main–microcrack interaction. Consequences of main–microcrack interaction can either shield or amplify the resulting main crack stress intensity factor, which accounts for the increase or decrease of ceramic toughness. Numerical outcomes show good agreement with the available solutions in the literatures; in addition results also reveal that the toughness shielding or amplification is dependent on the type of loadings as well as location/orientation of the microcrack. Nevertheless, residual normal stress plays an important role in shielding/amplification region trade‐off. This work may provide a useful quantitative tool in ceramic design and a valuable insight into main–micro interaction phenomenon.     

Linear micropolar elastic crack-tip fields under mixed mode loading conditions

Micropolar elasticity laws provide a possibility to describe constitutive properties of materials for which internal length scales may become important. They are characterized by the presence of couple stresses and nonsymmetric Cauchy stress tensor. Beyond the classical displacement field, the kinematical variables are augmented by a so-called microrotation field and its gradient, the latter introducing an internal length scale in the theory. For an isotropic, linear micropolar elastic material, the near-tip asymptotic field solutions for mode I and mode II cracks are derived. It is shown that these solutions behave similar to those according to the so-called couple stress theory, which has been investigated by Huang et al. (1997a), or similar to those derived for cellular materials by Chen et al. (1998). In particular, the singular fields have an order of singularity r ^–1/2 and are governed by some amplitude factors, having the meaning of stress intensity factors as in the classical linear elastic theory. The effect of material parameters on the stress intensity factors is studied by applying the finite element method to calculate the values of the stress intensity factors for an edge-cracked specimen of finite width.     

单位分解增强自然单元法计算应力强度因子

自然单元法是一种新兴的无网格数值计算方法,但应用于裂纹问题计算时,其近似函数并不能准确反映裂纹尖端附近应力场的奇异性,需要在缝尖附近增大结点布置密度以获得一定的计算精度。在单位分解框架下将缝尖渐近位移场函数嵌入到自然单元法近似函数中,应用伽辽金过程获得平衡方程的离散线性方程,用相互作用能量积分方法计算了混合模式裂纹的应力强度因子。算例分析表明:单位分解增强自然单元法可以方便地处理裂纹问题,在不增加结点布置密度的情况下可有效提高应力强度因子的计算精度。