Slow crack growth in polycarbonate films

TL;DR

This study investigates the slow crack growth in polycarbonate films under constant stress, revealing the formation of flame-shaped process zones and demonstrating that fracture growth follows a universal scaling law.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental validation of the Dugdale-Barenblatt model for process zones in polycarbonate films and uncovers a universal scaling behavior in crack growth.

Findings

Process zones are flame-shaped at crack tips.

Fracture growth obeys a universal master curve.

Quantitative agreement with Dugdale-Barenblatt model.

Abstract

We study experimentally the slow growth of a single crack in polycarbonate films submitted to uniaxial and constant imposed stress. The specificity of fracture in polycarbonate films is the appearance of flame shaped macroscopic process zones at the tips of the crack. Supported by an experimental study of the mechanical properties of polycarbonate films, an analysis of the stress dependence of the mean ratio between the process zone and crack lengths, during the crack growth, show a quantitative agreement with the Dugdale-Barenblatt model of the plastic process zone. We find that the fracture growth curves obey strong scaling properties that lead to a well defined growth master curve.