Notch Fracture in Polymeric Specimens under Compressive Stresses: The Role of the Equivalent Material Concept in Estimating the Critical Stress of Polymers

ABSTRACT: n this paper, the fracture of notched polymeric specimens under compressive stresses was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. In the experimental section, to determine the load-carrying capacity (LCC) of U-notched specimens made of general-purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and poly...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Torabi, Ali Reza, Hamidi, Kazem, Rahimi, Abdol Saleh, Cicero González, Sergio|||0000-0002-3950-6071
Format: article
Publication Date:2021
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
Repository:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unican.es:10902/23788
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10902/23788
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Brittle fracture
U-notch
Compressive loading
Equivalent material concept (EMC)
Maximum tangential stress (MTS) criterion
Mean stress (MS) criterion
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT: n this paper, the fracture of notched polymeric specimens under compressive stresses was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. In the experimental section, to determine the load-carrying capacity (LCC) of U-notched specimens made of general-purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) polymers, tests were performed on notched square samples under compression, i.e., negative mode I loading. In the observation of the nonlinear behavior of the two polymers in the standard compressive tests, for the first time, the equivalent material concept (EMC) was used under compressive loading to theoretically estimate the critical stresses of the two polymers, which were shown to be significantly different from the ultimate strengths obtained from the standard compression tests. By linking the EMC to the maximum tangential stress (MTS) and mean stress (MS) criteria, the LCC of the notched specimens was predicted. The outcomes are twofold: First, MTS, MS, EMC-MTS, and EMC-MS criteria provide accurate predictions of the experimental critical loads observed in the U-notched polymeric specimens; second, the combination of the EMC with the MTS and MS criteria, allow such predictions to be obtained without any need for experimental calibration.