Professional Documents
Culture Documents
www.elsevier.com/locate/polytest
Test Method
Department of Materials Engineering, DEMa, University of Sao Carlos, UFSCar Rodovia Washington Luiz, km 235, C.P. 676,
CEP 13565-905 Sao Carlos, SP, Brazil
b
Graduate Program in Materials Engineering and Science/University of Sao Francisco, USF, Itatiba, SP, Brazil
Received 3 May 2003; accepted 1 July 2003
Abstract
The evaluation of the fracture toughness of polymers is highly relevant, particularly because of the ongoing development of new polymeric blends, most of which are aimed at increasing the impact resistance of engineering plastics.
The toughness evaluation method, known as essential work of fracture (EWF), is a relatively simple method, useful
for application on both brittle and ductile materials. This study investigated the effect of thickness, processing and
testing conditions on the fracture behavior of polyamide 6. To this end, test specimens of the DDENT (double deeply
notched tensile) geometry were tensile-tested under low (uniaxial tension) and high (tensile-impact) strain rates. The
results, which are presented in terms of the variation of total fracture energy according to the ligament length, revealed
that injection molded specimens without a pre-cracked notch offered the best choice. The geometrical criterion established by the ESIS protocol (test of the European Structural Integrity Society) for application of the EWF was also
reviewed.
2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: EWF method; Toughness; Processing; Pre-crack; Polyamide 6
1. Introduction
Application of the linear elastic fracture mechanics
(LEFM) for characterization of the fracture toughness of
ductile materials is inadequate, since the large plastic
zone at the notch front invalidates basic LEFM criteria.
In response to this need, the J-Integral method was
developed to evaluate the fracture toughness of ductile
materials. Although this technique is adequate, it still has
some disadvantages, i.e. in addition to being time-consuming, it provides unreliable experimental measures
[1].
The essential work of fracture (EWF) method was
0142-9418/$ - see front matter 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0142-9418(03)00080-1
196
Fig. 1. Test specimen for double deep notched tension specimen (DDENT), highlighting the fracture process and the plastic
zone forming along the ligament.
Wf wet wpb2t
(1)
where is the ligament length, b is a geometry-dependent plastic zone shape factor and t is the specimen
thickness. The term containing we represents the energy
required to create a unit fracture surface area, while the
term containing wp corresponds to the energy dissipated
per unit volume in the whitened zone under tension.
Dividing Eq. (1) by t yields the specific total work of
fracture, wf,
wf we bwp
(2)
197
Table 1
Properties of nylon 6
Properties
Standard
Value
120
31.9
52.2
2.9
54.8
21,000
220
a
b
Fig. 3. Notched bars used in the tensile test prepared according to the ASTM D6068 standard.
198
199
Table 2
Results obtained from the graph in Fig. 4 for nylon 6. we is obtained from the intersection with the axis of the ordinates; bwp is the
slope of the straight line and R is the linear correlation coefficient
Test specimen
we (kJ/m2)
bwp (MJ/m3)
24.37
24.01
15.48
7.39
0.5
15.9
1.83
8.74
0.60
0.99
0.55
0.64
Fig. 5.
200
4. Conclusions
201
Table 3
Results of the thickness and strain rate influence on the EWF parameters
Material: nylon 6
EWF parameters
Thickness (mm)
Testing speed
we (kJ/m2)
bwp (MJ/m3)
1.6
5 mm/min
50 mm/min
500 mm/min
3.7 m/s
5 mm/min
50 mm/min
500 mm/min
3.7 m/s
36.94
28.95
65.75
30.96
11.82
1.61
3.20
26.34
16.77
17.48
14.65
2.90
20.83
20.74
16.16
0.43
0.99
0.99
0.98
0.80
0.99
0.99
0.98
0.41
3.2
Table 4
Injection molding conditions of nylon 6
Condition
Value
700
250
60
20
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge BASF S.A. for
donating the materials used in this study, as well as
FAPESP, CAPES and PRONEX (Brazilian research
funding institutions) for their financial support.
References
[1] Y.-W. Mai, S.-C. Wong, X.-H. Chen, in: D.R. Paul, C.B.
Bucknall (Eds.), Application of Fracture Mechanics for
Characterization of Toughness of Polymer Blends, Performance, vol. 2, Wiley, New York, 2000.
[2] D.M. Laura, H. Keskkula, J.W. Barlow, D.R. Paul, Effect
of glass fiber and maleated ethylene-propylene rubber content on the impact fracture parameters of nylon 6, Polymer
42 (2001) 6161.
[3] O. Okada, H. Keskkula, D.R. Paul, Fracture toughness of
nylon 6 blends with maleated ethylene/propylene rubbers,
Polymer 41 (2000) 8061.
[4] R.A. Kudva, H. Keskkula, D.R. Paul, Fracture behavior of
nylon 6/ABS blends compatilized with an imidized acrylic
polymer, Polymer 41 (2000) 335.
[5] O.O. Santana, M.L. Maspoch, A.B.P. Martinez, Plane
strain essential work of fracture in SENB geometry at low
and high strain rates of PG/ABS blends, Polym. Bull. 39
(1997) 511.
[6] Y. Yokoyama, T. Ricco, Toughening of polypropylene by
different elastomeric systems, Polymer 39 (1997) 3675.
202