Abstract
With the goal of ensuring the security of passengers for automotive industry, the present work addresses the ductile fracture process of plasticized PVC. Dedicated clamped single edge notch bending (SENB) specimens were used to characterize the mechanisms of crack initiation and propagation for the studied material. The exploitation of the experimental database associated with finite element simulation of the crack propagation allowed, on the one hand, the calibration factor η<sub>p</sub> of this specific SENB specimen to be established, as a function of the crack depth ratio. On the other hand, the fracture toughness of the studied plasticized PVC was estimated to be 10.8 kJ/m<sup>2</sup>, value which was close to that reported in the literature for modified PVC. By using this fracture toughness value, a methodology aiming at the prediction of ductile crack initiation of the PVC skin integrated into a real dashboard (full scale test) was proposed.
Highlights
The correct deployment of airbag spreading is a major concern for the security of passengers in the automotive industry
Whereas for clamped single edge notch bending (SENB) the whole width (29.8 mm) was involved, in the CEAST specimen the sequence was as follows: · when the impactor tip entered in contact with the top surface of the sample at the end of the remaining ligament, only a small portion of the diameter Φ of the impactor was concerned with the crack initiation; · this initiated crack propagated through the thickness; · the displacement of the hemispherical impactor induced lateral crack propagation, i.e. perpendicular to the direction of the impactor displacement
The desired fracture process allowing the safety of the passengers during the deployment of the airbag in automotive industry is the ductile failure
Summary
The correct deployment of airbag spreading is a major concern for the security of passengers in the automotive industry. · At 23 °C, see Figure 1(b), a net ductile tearing of the skin, following the scoring direction and accompanied by the deformation of the top surface of the airbag box, was observed. · At 85 °C, see Figure 1(d), at the same impact speed, a significant deformation of the box together with an extreme extension of the skin delayed the opening time, if it occurred, as ballooning could prevent the opening of the box This situation is the most dangerous condition which needs to be avoided even though the ultimate failure could be qualified as ductile.
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