Papers by Author: Otmar Kolednik

Abstract: This paper deals with the determination of the crack driving force in elastic-plastic materials and its correlation with the J-Integral approach. In a real elastic-plastic material, the conventional J-integral cannot describe the crack driving force. This problem has been solved in Simha et al. [1], where the configurational force approach was used to evaluate in a new way the J-integral under incremental plasticity conditions. The crack driving force in a homogeneous elastic-plastic material, Jtip, is given by the sum of the nominally applied far-field crack driving force, Jfar, and the plasticity influence term, Cp, which accounts for the shielding or anti-shielding effect of plasticity. In this study, the incremental plasticity J-integral and the crack driving force are considered for a stationary and a growing crack.

Abstract: The relation between the local and global values of the fracture initiation toughness is investigated for a cast Al6061-based metal matrix composite with 10% of Al2O3 particles after different heat treatments. The global values of the fracture initiation toughness are determined by conventional fracture mechanics tests. The local values of the fracture initiation toughness are found by measuring the critical crack tip opening displacement (CODi) at different locations along the crack front. To do this, an automatic fracture surface analysis system is applied. Despite of the large scatter of the individual CODi-values, a good correlation to the global fracture initiation toughness values is found.

Abstract: Particle reinforced MMCs with a particle size of 100µm and an aluminium matrix (Al6061) are analyzed by the means of automatic local deformation analysis. Two different heat treatment conditions (under- and over-aged) are investigated. It is found that the local deformation behaviour is strongly determined by particle damage. While the under-aged material shows only particle fracture, the over-aged MMC shows also particle debonding as a relevant damage mechanism.