Temperature effects on fatigue crack growth in polycarbonate

The fatigue behaviour of a high strength thermoplastic, polycarbonate, has been investigated as a function of temperature. Fatigue crack growth properties were measured in the temperature range of 100 to 373 K and were analysed using a fracture mechanics approach. Fatigue behaviour was found to be related to the fracture toughness of the material. This correlation with fracture toughness was used to develop an empirical model based on the toughness for describing the effect of temperature on fatigue crack growth, and to consider fatigue in terms of the secondary losses of the polymer.