ELASTIC FRACTURE-MECHANICS CONCEPTS FOR INTERFACIAL CRACKS

Elastic fracture mechanics concepts are reexamined for a crack on the interface between dissimilar solids. A derivation by function theory is given of the form of stress and displacement fields in the vicinity of the crack tip, equivalent to complete Williams expansions of both inner and outer (external to a nonlinear or contact zone) type. The complex stress intensity factor K associated with an elastic interface crack, for which contact is ignored, is discussed and, specifically, its validity as a crack tip characterizing parameter is noted for cases of small scale nonlinear material behavior and/or small scale contact zones at the crack tip. That is, similar values of K for two cracked bodies then imply similar states as the crack tip, so that conditions for crack growth can be phrases in terms of K reaching a critical failure locus in a complex plane.