Fracture analysis of a functionally graded interfacial zone between two dissimilar homogeneous materials

Abstract

In this paper the plane elasticity problem for a functionally graded interfacial zone containing a crack between two dissimilar homogeneous materials has been considered. It is assumed that in the interfacial zone the reciprocal of the shear modulus is a linear function of the coordinate, while Possion’s ratio keeps constant. By utilizing the Fourier transformation technique and the transfer matrix method, the mixed boundary problem is reduced to a system of singular integral equations that are solved numerically. The influences of the geometric parameters and the graded parameter on the stress intensity factors are investigated. The numerical results show that the graded parameters, the thickness of interfacial zone, the crack size and location have significant effects on the stress intensity factors.