Stress corrosion crack growth in glass/polyester composites with surface crack

Abstract

The propagation characteristics of stress corrosion surface cracks and crack growth rates in a range of unidirectional glass/polyester composites exposed to 0.6 N dilute HCl acid were examined using a fracture mechanics test. Glass/polyester composites were produced from continuous rovings using filament winding method. The shallow surface cracks with various a/c and a/t ratios were machined on the specimens and under uniaxial tension were exposed to one side stress corrosion. The stress intensity factors for glass/polyester composites with surface cracks are obtained from Newman‐Raju, Nishioka, and single edge notch expressions. The material constants, such as A and n, are related to crack growth rate and the stress intensity factors were obtained for the test conditions. q 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.