Fatigue Crack Propagation in Polyvinylchloride and Polyethersulfone Polymer Foams

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2014

Publication Title

Journal of Sandwich Structures and Materials

Abstract

Crack growth in cross-linked polyvinylchloride and thermoplastic polyethersulfone foams under mode I fatigue cycling has been experimentally examined. Polyvinylchloride foams of densities ranging from 45 to 100 kg/m3 and polyethersulfone foams of densities ranging from 60 to 130 kg/m3 were considered. All cyclic tests employed the sandwich double cantilever beam test specimen. The test results revealed that crack growth rate (da/dN) compared at a constant cyclic energy release rate (ΔG) decreased with increasing density of the foam. The crack propagation rates in low-density polyethersulfone foams were much less than in polyvinylchloride foams of similar density. The crack growth rate in the high-density polyethersulfone foam was highly dependent on the loading R-ratio. The crack front in the low-density polyethersulfone foam displayed marked deviations from a straight shape, where the edge regions propagated faster than the center of the specimen. All polyvinylchloride foams and high-density polyethersulfone foam displayed straight crack fronts.

Comments

Support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation (CMMI-0824827) under a sub-contract from University of Delaware.

DOI

10.1177/1099636213505304

Volume

16

Issue

1

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