Key Engineering Materials Vols. 488-489

Abstract: Recycling and usage of secondary raw materials in production is one of the most topical issues. Usage of secondary raw materials is one of the most topical issues in both economic and ecological (environmental) sense. Such a layered film on the market has lower price because secondary raw material prices is significant lower compared with the original material, the PET granules. Currently producing a layered film the middle layer composes up to 50 % of recycled material. In today's market in order to maintain a high level of competitiveness usage of 50 % of recycled materials is inadequate, therefore to use more recycled material amount and in such way to reduce product cost further researches are necessary.

Abstract: The problem of fracture toughness, K_Ic, determination at a crack tip localized in a welded joint is placed in principle because fracture mechanics assumes homogenous material, not only around the crack tip but on a distance from it, in order to maintain valid theoretical assumptions and importance of the fracture toughness as the property measured by some of the fracture mechanics methods. Welded joint, as an integral part of a structure, represents inhomogeneity by microstructure and mechanical properties, often by geometrical form, and by the stress field as well, which are affected by various factors as well as residual stresses after welding [1]. However, these general difficulties did not disenable experimental determination of the fracture toughness under plane strain, K_Ic, in certain critical areas of a welded joint, or welded joint as a whole, but rather there are difficulties in interpreting the meaning of the measured values. Specimens for the fracture mechanics parameters determination are specimens with cracks, and cracks appears in welded joints as the most critical defects.

Abstract: The recent rewriting of the Bazant's Size Effect Law which has suggested the existence of an additional asymptotic regime for intermediate structure sizes is compared to numerical simulations of fracture of geometrically similar notched structures of different sizes. The quasibrittle failure is simulated through Cohesive Zone Model (bilinear softening) using a constant set of cohesive parameters whatever the specimen size. The different asymptotic regimes expected for the size effect on the nominal strength are shown in fair agreement with the size effect observed on the results obtained from numerical simulations. The existence of the new asymptotic regime expected for intermediate structure sizes is, in particular, clearly revealed by this comparison.

Abstract: Pressure casting dies are exposed to harsh service conditions consisting of cyclic thermal and mechanical loading and thus undergo thermo-mechanical fatigue. Due to cyclic plastic deformation of the material near the surface of the dies the loading conditions gradually change because of the formation of tensile residual stresses which add to the stress field from external loading. This change in the stress field influences the nucleation and the growth of cracks. Typically after a few thousand casting cycles a network of heat checks forms. In such a network crack shielding has a big influence on the evolution of the crack array. Firstly, it influences the propagation rates of the cracks and secondly it may change the propagation direction compared to the case where no neighbors are present. The crack growth rate and the length at which the cracks stop growing are also influenced by the thermo-physical and mechanical properties of the die material. It was found that the shielding effects of neighboring cracks are of equal importance. Crack deflection caused by the presence of neighboring cracks can lead to break-outs at the surface ensued by fast degradation eventually necessitating the replacement of the die. Consequently, the focus in this work is put on the investigation of the interaction of cracks in a network and their effect on the fatigue life. The problem is tackled by means of an automated strategy based on the finite element method.

Abstract: J-Integral is the main effective and commonly used tool for cracked elastic-plastic material resistance assessment. Determination of fracture toughness under impact loading conditions is related with problems of crack length measurement. Nevertheless, current experimental techniques restrict the specimen’s geometry taking into account span and height ratio, which is equal to four. Evaluation of fracture toughness estimation method which requires only experimental load-line displacement curve of single specimen is research object of dynamic fracture mechanics. This article proposes an approach of impact fracture toughness determination of elastic-plastic steel from single any size specimen test. Load-line displacement data obtained from three-point-bending tests of rectangular cross section specimens with V form single edge notch was used for J-integral calculation. Five series of specimens with different geometry were manufactured from ductile steel and tested.

Abstract: In order to assess the influences of macro- and microstructure as well as the cast flaw on the tensile properties, the fracture behavior of a number of ambient tensile TiAl specimens containing directional lamellar microstructure have been analyzed. It is found that all the fractures of tensile specimens are triggered by a critical Griffith crack. According to the desirable ambient tensile properties coincide with the initial cracking facets smaller than 600 mm, it is proposed that the detrimental effect of the random oriented lamellar colonies on the tensile properties can be eliminated through cast technology improvement.

Abstract: Test methods are presented to determine failure modes and energy absorption properties of composite crash structural elements from quasi-static tests on chamfered carbon fabric/epoxy tube segment specimens under axial compression loads. High speed film and CT scans of failed specimens are used to identify trigger mechanisms, failure mode evolution at the crush front and failure processes during steady crushing. FE models of failure were developed which could be the basis for materials selection and design procedures for crashworthy composite structures. These are based on meso-scale composites ply damage models combined with cohesive interfaces to represent delamination failures, which damage and fail when the interface fracture energy is reached. The models are implemented in an explicit FE code and parameters for the ply damage and delamination models were obtained from related materials test programmes. The FE models were applied to simulate axial crushing in tube segments and C-channels, showing good predictions of measured peak forces at failure initiation, steady crush forces and total energy absorption.

Abstract: This paper presents a study of the influence of polypropylene fiber reinforcement of concrete on the fracture behavior and edge effect in elements of variable width. Experimental results of fracture behavior of specimens with different cross sections are available. It has obtained more ductile behavior for specimens with trapezoidal sections (with increasing width) and inverted T-sections. Therefore, we analyze the influence of the fibers addition on the fracture behavior of these sections. Sections with gradual variation of wide and sudden change of width were analyzed. Results allow us to quantify the increase of ductility and fracture performance improvements produced by polypropylene fiber addition to concrete in these sections.

Abstract: A globe valve is a linear motion valve used to shut off and regulate fluid flow in pipelines. Depending on the number of process connections, they are produced as two‑ or three-way valves. The main valve component carrying the internal pressure is the valve body. For safe exploitation, the valves are designed with the allowable internal pressure taken into consideration. The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of the wall thickness on the allowable and failure pressures of two- and tree-way globe valve bodies, DN50 and DN100 respectively. Twice-elastic-slope (TES) and the tangent‑intersection (TI) methods are used to obtain the plastic collapse pressures at the critical location which was determined (Fig. 1a and 1b) at the location where maximum equivalent plastic strain throughout the valve body thickness reaches the outer surface. Obtained values are used afterwards to calculate corresponding allowable pressures according to the limit design method, while the failure pressure at the same location was determined as the highest point from the load-maximal principal strain curve. Calculated allowable pressure values, for both valve bodies, are compared with the corresponding ones obtained using the EN standard.

Abstract: This paper presents the analysis of different types of shear strength of wood which can differ very much due to its structure and different orientations of applied load. These combinations of wood structure and load orientations lead to different modes of fracture. The main aim of the paper is to find a relation among all types of shear strength of the wood and to reduce the number of shear tests. Furthermore, different shear strengths will be analyzed both experimentally and numerically, i.e. experimentally by testing appropriate specimens and numerically with the help of the finite element structural analysis solver Robot AutoDesk. The testing specimens will be loaded parallel and perpendicular to the wood fibres and the radial and tangential planes will be analyzed. The paper will also investigate the relation to other strengths of wood (i.e. tensile strength parallel and perpendicular to the fibres) in order to simplify the testing procedure for shear strength determination.