Evaluation of dynamic fracture toughness of a bonded bi-material interface subject to high-strain-rate shearing using digital image correlation

TL;DR

This study evaluates the dynamic fracture toughness of a bonded aluminum/PMMA interface under high-strain-rate shear using digital image correlation, revealing fracture modes and validating a new measurement method.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining DIC and stress intensity factor analysis to assess interfacial fracture toughness at high strain rates.

Findings

Mode II fracture occurs with shorter cracks.

Mode I and II fractures appear with longer cracks.

The proposed method yields consistent stress intensity factors.

Abstract

High-strain-rate shear tests were conducted on a three-layered bonded test piece comprising a central aluminum layer with PMMA resin layers bonded on both sides. Upon calculating the displacement field and the strain field using digital image correlation (DIC), the crack tip was located, and the fracture toughness was evaluated at the Aluminum/PMMA bonding interface. As a result of the DIC, it was possible to determine the process by which 1) the elastic stress wave propagated to the aluminum section, 2) the wave was transmitted to the PMMA section, and 3) the crack developed at the interface. The tip of the crack was identified using displacement distributions obtained using DIC. The fracture toughness of the interface was evaluated using the stress intensity factor. The true interfacial stress was calculated by correcting the strain value at the interface obtained using DIC. The distribution of the stress suggested that mode II fracture appears in the present test method when the crack is sufficiently shorter than the length of the bonding interface, and mode I and mode II fractures appear when the crack is longer in comparison. Although the value of the stress intensity factor was disturbed by the error of the DIC analysis, it was confirmed that the obtained values were similar regardless of the difference in the crack length, upon averaging the stress intensity factor values from the crack tips to the long-range with a ratio of 1 to the subset in DIC. As the obtained stress intensity factor value was similar to the values calculated in the related literature, it can be concluded that the method proposed in this study yields a reasonable stress intensity factor.