Stability of beam-like fracture mechanics specimens

Test specimens used to determine the interlaminar strength of composites as well as the strength of adhesive layers are known to occasionally suffer from instability. Thus, even though the experiments are performed under controlled load-point displacement, the experiments are terminated prematurely by unstable crack propagation. Often there exists a critical crack length which must be exceeded in order to obtain stable crack propagation. In this paper, a general method to assess the stability of beam-like fracture mechanics specimens is developed. Both systems subjected to a single load and the more general situation with several independent loads are treated. A simple formula is derived for the critical crack length for one-parameter loading. The only parameter necessary as input is the compliance of the un-cracked specimen. For the case of non-proportional loading, stability is determined by studying the eigenvalues of a symmetric matrix. Other findings quantified in the paper are the effect of orthotropy, the influence of a flexible interphase layer and the influence of the compliance of the loading device.

► The stability of crack propagation is investigated for beam-like test specimens.
► A simple formula based on beam theory is given for the critical crack length.
► Effects of orthotropy and a flexible interphase layer are studied.