Numerical study of thermo-mechanical coupling effects on crack tip fields of mixed-mode fracture in pseudoelastic shape memory alloys

The thermo-mechanical coupling effects on mixed-mode crack tip parameters in pseudoelastic shape memory alloys are studied by a finite element solution. Different loading rates are applied on the K-dominant part of the small scale transformation region. Both plane strain and plane stress analyses are carried out to study how the coupling between thermal and mechanical regimes alters the near tip fields in the martensitic region. The crack tip energy release rate and the J-integral remain history-dependent. The stress/strain response, the angular distributions of the stress and the released temperature, the shape of the transformation zone and the released temperature are selected as the crack tip fields of interest. Special attention is given to study of how the aforementioned crack tip fields are affected by the increase of applied loading rate. A comparison is also drawn between the crack tip fields in plane strain and plane stress states to complete the discussion.