Crack propagation velocities in bi-phase plates under static and dynamic loading

Abstract

An investigation of the dependence of the crack-propagation velocity in complex bimaterial plates at different loading rates was undertaken. The specimens were fractured under the influence of both static and dynamic loadings and the crack-propagation velocities were detected by high speed photography with the optical method of caustics. The investigation was concentrated in detecting the influence that the different loading rates have on the fracture velocities in both phases of the plates and how this influence interferes—counteracting or superimposing—with the other factors that determine the crack propagation process in bi-material specimens. These factors are the effect of interface, the influence of the mechanical characteristics of each phase on the crack-propagation velocity etc. The results show that for constant and given material characteristics of the bi-phase plate the crack propagation velocity in the first (notched) phase tends to increase with increasing strain rates. The same is valid for the crack propagation velocity in the second phase, but only for the case when fracture occurs under the influence of a dynamic load. A significant discrepancy of the latter statement occurs, however, in the case of fracture under a continuously-increasing static load. In this case the crack-propagation velocity in the second phase reaches some remarkably high values, which are of the order of high strain-rate dynamic crack propagation velocities. In this way, the crack-arrest effect on the crack propagation velocity appears to be more significant in the case of a static loading than it is for the case of dynamic loading.