Deformation near parallel cracks close to interface in bonded dissimilar plate

Tensile tests are carried out by using rectangular plate specimens extracted from the explosion clad plate. Artificial parallel cracks are made perpendicularly to the explosive interface in each specimen. When a tensile load is applied perpendicularly to the crack plane, strain, plastic deformation near cracks and crack opening displacement are examined by experiments as well as elasto-plastic finite element analysis. The effects of the material inhomogeneity, the change of material characteristics, the residual stress and the interaction between parallel cracks on the deformation behavior are revealed. The plastic zone around parallel cracks, at relatively low applied stress level, grows mainly ahead of and between two cracks. The interaction between parallel cracks on the crack opening displacement can be explained from the square of stress intensity factor at the low applied stress level and from the plastic deformation at the high applied stress level.