A double-torsion study of the fracture of polyethersulphone

Abstract

Fracture studies of polyethersulphone have been undertaken using the double torsion geometry, in particular to establish the effects of ageing and crack speed on fracture toughness. The stability of crack growth was found in all cases to be very dependent on initial notching. If by suitable techniques, e.g. fatigue, a craze was formed at the notch root the subsequent crack growth was found to be stable, with a craze ahead of the growing crack. Under these conditions only a slight dependence of fracture toughness on crack speed was observed, with no significant differences between material aged for 5 years at room temperature and freshly moulded samples. The dimensions of the observed craze were found to be very similar to those of crazes observed in a parallel study using compact tension geometry and lead to comparable values for craze stress and crack opening displacement. In many instances unstable crack growth was observed, often described as “stick-slip”. This was often associated with the absence of a craze at the crack tip, perhaps due to a damage zone created during razor notching. The initiation load and load for crack arrest were determined and used to calculate initiation and arrest values for the fracture toughness as a function of the applied deformation rate. It was found that these values converged at high crosshead speeds to a value independent of ageing, although for the freshly moulded material the initiation values were significantly higher, and the arrest values lower. Electrically conducting grids were used to establish that crack speeds up to 400 m sec−1 occur during stick-slip crack growth. A detailed discussion is presented of conditions required for stable and unstable crack growth in polyethersulphone.