PRECRACK HYSTERESIS ENERGY IN DETERMINING ITS DUCTILE-BRITTLE TRANSITION .3. EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE

A temperature variable has been used to correlate the precrack hysteresis energy and the corresponding ductility in terms of ductile-brittle transition behavior for polycarbonate. When the precrack plastic zone exceeds a critical value, crack extension thereafter will be effectively contained within the domain of the plastic zone and result in ductile fracture. Whether a specimen will fail in a ductile mode or a brittle mode is actually already being decided before the onset of crack initiation. The precrack elastic storage energy, total input energy minus hysteresis energy, is the major driving force to strain the crack tip for crack initiation. A higher testing temperature with lower yield stress converts a greater fraction of the input energy into the precrack hysteresis energy and relieves the storage strain energy available for crack initiation. A polycarbonate-toughening mechanism of increasing temperature is very similar to the presence of rubber by reducing yield stress and increasing the precrack plasticity. (C) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.