The dynamics and energetics of intergranular crack growth along a flat grain boundary in aluminum is studied by a molecular-dynamics simulation model for crack propagation under steady-state conditions. Using the ability of the molecular-dynamics simulation to identify atoms involved in different atomistic mechanisms, it was possible to identify the energy contribution of different processes ta...

An assessment of the plasticity-induced crack-closure concept is made, in light of some of the questions that have been raised on the validity of the concept, and the assumptions that have been made concerning crack-tip damage below the crack-opening stress. The impact of using other crack-tip parameters, such as the cyclic crack-tip displacement, to model crack-growth rate behavior was studied...

rails fracture by the growth of fatigue crack or critical crack is one of the prevalent defects in railway. the rail fracture, failure and stress analysis should be studied in order to prevention of rail fracture. in this paper, new formulation of contact stress for two rolling bodies is presented, where the results are closed to the hertz stress formulation. moreover, stress analysis is done b...

The rate-dependent fracture behavior of a 10-phr rubber-modified epoxy was investigated using double-cantilever-beam tests at various crosshead speeds. Dramatic rate effects were observed in the R-curve behavior and in the relationship between the applied energy-release rate and the crack velocity. Furthermore, a transition between fracture with toughening mechanisms operating (kinetic crack gr...

During crack growth of real materials, the total energy released can be partitioned into elastic and dissipative terms. By analyzing material models with mechanisms for dissipating energy and tracking all energy terms during crack growth, it is proposed that computer simulations of fracture can model crack growth by a total energy balance condition. One approach for developing fracture simulati...

We consider a brittle fracture taking account of self-equilibrated distributed microstresses. To determine how the latter can affect the crack equilibrium and growth, a model of a structured linearly elastic body is introduced consisting of two equal symmetrically arranged layers (or half-planes) connected by an interface as a prospective crack path. The interface is comprised of a discrete set...

Stable ductile crack growth in 3 mm thick AISI 304 stainless steel specimens has been investigated experimentally and numerically. Multi-linear Isotropic Hardening method coupled with the Von-Mises yield criterion was adopted for modeling elasto-plastic behavior of the material. Mode-I CT fracture specimens have been tested to generate experimental load-displacement-crack growth data during sta...

an epoxy resin was modified by silica nanoparticles and cured with an anhydride. the particles with different batches of 12, 20, and 40 nm sizes were each distributed into the epoxy resin ultrasonically. electron microscopy images showed that the silica particles were well dispersed throughout the resin. tensile test results showed that young’s modulus and tensile strength increased with the vo...

The fatigue growth of a fiber reinforced composite laminate was characterized under thermal cycling using a combined experimental and computational investigation. Twenty-four ply composite laminates (1⁄20 12=90 12 ) are fabricated with a pre-existing delamination, and subjected to thermal cycling in an environmental chamber. The large mismatch in the coefficients of thermal expansion is used to...

Ultrasonic methods have been implemented for in situ sizing of fatigue cracks near fastener holes. These techniques, however, only provide an estimate at the time of the measurement and cannot predict the remaining life of the structure. In contrast, statistical crack propagation approaches model the expected fatigue life based on worst-case fatigue process assumptions. The authors have recentl...