ELASTOPLASTIC TROUSER TEAR TESTING OF SHEET MATERIALS

An elastoplastic analysis of trouser tear testing is presented and differences from the Mai-Cotterell rigid-plastic analysis [1] are highlighted. In particular, the simple linear plot of the latter for tearing force per unit thickness against leg width proves to be a curve with a lower intercept for fracture toughness, since the radius of tearing increases with leg width. Furthermore, the curve passes through a maximum and the tearing force decreases at very large leg widths owing to the effects of elasticity. Experiments on NS4 aluminium alloy and on 64/36 brass sheet (including the effects of anisotropy) confirm these results.