An experimental investigation of dynamic crack propagation

Abstract

Burst tests have been performed on closed-ended thin wall tubes with axially aligned, external, semicircular, crack-like flaws. The tubes were made of Araldite CT200 with HT907 hardener. Dynamic crack propagation rates between 0.14c1and 0.30c1were measured,c1being the velocity of longitudinal waves in the walls of the tubes.The fracture surfaces exhibited a smooth mirror-like appearance near the crack initiation site. This was followed by a mist region and then a hackle region. The roughness in the hackle region becomes progressively greater with distance from the initiation site and crack branching can eventually occur. The KID/KIC(where KIDis the applied dynamic stress intensity factor and KICis the plane strain fracture toughness) value at which the hackle region begins is about 3.34 and the KID/KICvalue at which branching begins is about 8.75.Previously reported work only contains results for KID/KICup to about 5. The present work contains results for KID/KICup to about 14, which correlate with previous work for KID/KICvalues less than about 4. However, previous work has indicated that a unique relationship may exist between v/c1and KID/KIC. The present work indicates that although this is a good approximation, a systematic variation with load (pressure in this case) has been detected.