Mixed mode fracture characterization and analysis of aluminum alloys using bend specimens

Abstract

In actual practice all components and structures will have crack irrespective of the material they are made of The discontinuity or defect may be man made such as a notch a hole a re entrant corner etc or it may already exist within a component due to manufacturing defects like slag inclusion welding procedure etc In all these cases the designer wants to know about the possibility of the crack to grow further before allowing them to continue in their service It is here we seek the aid of what is called Fracture Mechanics that plays an important role in designing the components and structures and evaluating their life It also helps in finding the upper limit of the load applied on a component for which the dimensions location and orientation of the crack and loads are given This thesis focuses on analyzing new methods of characterizing mode mixity using bend specimens The work involves determination of mixed mode fracture toughness and other related parameters experimentally using bend specimens of Aluminum alloys