Delamination is a particularly dangerous damage mode of high performance laminated composites. In order to describe the composites ductile cracking and its progressive evolution accurately, the adjusted exponential cohesive zone model (CZM) is adopted, which correlates the tensile traction with the corresponding interfacial separation along the fracturing interfacial zone. At first the adjusted exponential CZM is used to simulate the mode I delamination of the standard double cantilever beam (DCB). The simulated results are in good agreement with the corrected beam theory and the corresponding experimental results. Then in order to research how the interfacial properties influence the mode I fracture, the interfacial strength and the critical energy release rate are studied. The main results are obtained as follows. The interfacial strength plays a crucial role in the laminated composites delamination onset, and it affects the peak load significantly if there is not a pre-crack. Once the delamination propagation begins to occur in the laminated composites, the responses of the load-displacement plots are relatively insensitive to the interfacial strength, and only the critical energy release rate is of critical importance. Furthermore, the peak load increases with the increase of the critical energy release rate and interfacial strength.
AbstractOne of the most interesting questions in the dynamics of brittle fracture is how a running brittle crack responds to an overload, i.e. to a mechanical energy release rate larger than that due to the increase in surface energy of the two cleavage surfaces. To address this question, dynamically running cracks in different crystal lattices are modelled atomistically under the condition of constant energy release rate. Stable crack propagation as well as the onset of crack tip instabilities are studied.It will be shown that small overloads lead to stable crack propagation with steady state velocities which quickly reach the terminal velocity of about 0.4 of the Rayleigh wave speed upon increasing the overload. Further increasing the overload does not change the steady state velocity but significantly changes the energy dissipation process towards shock wave emission at the breaking of every single atomic bond. Eventually the perfectly brittle crack becomes unstable, which then leads to dislocation generation and to the production of cleavage steps. The onset of the instability as well as the terminal velocity are related to the non-linearity of the interatomic interaction.
ABSTRACTIn the present research, the adhesion properties and failure mechanisms for a ductile thin film on a silicon substrate (Ni/Si) are studied experimentally, and are simulated theoretically. In the experimental research, the relations of the horizontal driving force, vertical displacement and the frictional coefficients with horizontal displacement are measured. Furthermore, the variation of the total energy release rate and the frictional coefficient between contact surfaces are measured through obtaining a frictional effect law. The law displays that the frictional influences on the energy release rate of the total system weakly depend on the thin film thickness. This conclusion leads to that the frictional effect can be eliminated in the toughness ratio relation approximately. So that one can directly obtain the interfacial adhesion toughness from measurements in the micro-scratching test. In addition, the micro-scratching process for the ductile thin film/brittle substrate systems is simulated using the double cohesive zone model. Prediction results of the energy release rate are obtained, and are compared with the experimental results obtained in the present research.
An analysis is presented for the dynamic, steady-state propagation of a semi-infinite, mode I crack in an infinite, linearly viscoelastic body. For mathematical convenience, the material is assumed to have a constant Poisson’s ratio, but the shear modulus is only assumed to be decreasing and convex. An expression for the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) is derived for very general tractions on the crack faces and the Energy Release Rate (ERR) is constructed assuming that a fully developed Barenblatt type failure zone with nonsingular stresses exists at the crack tip and the loadings have a simple exponential form. For comparative purposes, expressions for the ERR are derived for the special cases of dynamic steady-state crack propagation in elastic material and quasi-static crack propagation in viscoelastic material, both with and without a failure zone. Sample calculations are included for power-law material and a standard linear solid in order to illustrate the combined influence of inertial effects, material viscoelasticity, and a failure zone upon the ERR.
The modified edge lift-off test (MELT) has gained enough acceptance in the community for evaluating interfacial adhesion that there is now commercial equipment for automating the test. However, there are several experimental and mechanics assumptions of the test that may provide unexpected outcomes. Experimental data suggested that for crack lengths greater than 5% of the film thickness the energy release rate was independent of crack length, contradicting the rule of thumb suggesting that the crack length should be greater than 10–20 times the film thickness to obtain a steady-state energy release rate in the edge crack problem. Finite element simulations not only corroborated the experimental observation but seemed to indicate that the crack length required for steady-state conditions was a function of the relative Young's moduli for the film and substrate. It was also shown via an analytical model that plate bending (commonly neglected) can significantly affect the energy release rate in the MELT and lead to incorrect conclusions regarding the reliability of an interface.
This paper deals with the dissipation associated with quasistatic microcracking of brittle materials exhibiting softening behavior. For this purpose an elastodamaging cohesive zone model is used, in which cohesive tractions decrease (during crack propagation) with increasing displacement discontinuities. Constant cohesive tractions are included in the model as a limiting special case. Considering a representative volume element containing a dilute distribution of many parallel microcracks, we quantify energy dissipation associated with mode I microcrack propagation. This is done in the framework of thermodynamics, without restricting assumptions on the size of the cohesive zones. Model predictions are compared with exact solutions, which are accessible for constant cohesive tractions. The proposed model reliably predicts both onset of crack propagation and the dissipation during microcracking. It is shown that the energy release rate is virtually equal to the area under the softening curve, if the microscopic tensile strength is at least twice as large as the macroscopic tensile strength. This result justifies approaches relying on the concept of constant energy release rate, such as those frequently used in the engineering practice.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse, in a finite element simulation, the failure of a multilayer printed circuit board (PCB), exposed to an impact load, to better evaluate the reliability and lifetime. Thereby the focus was set on failures in the outermost epoxy layer.Design/methodology/approachThe fracture behaviour of the affected material was characterized. The parameters of a cohesive zone law were determined by performing a double cantilever beam test and a corresponding simulation. The cohesive zone law was used in an enriched finite element local simulation model to predict the crack initiation and crack propagation. Using the determined location of the initial crack, the energy release rate at the crack tip was calculated, allowing an evaluation of the local loading situation.FindingsA good concurrence between the simulated and the experimentally observed failure pattern was observed. Calculating the energy release rate of two example PCBs, the significant influence of the chosen type on the local failure behaviour was proven.Originality/valueThe work presented in this paper allows for the simulation and evaluation of failure in the outermost epoxy layers of printed circuit boards due to impact loads.
The effect of buffer-layer on the steady-state energy release rate of a tunneling crack in a wind turbine blade joint