SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 2000
STP14345S

Notched Impact Testing of Thermoplastics: A New Perspective

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The toughness of unreinforced thermoplastics is often high, but limited by a transition to brittle behaviour with increasing impact speed and decreasing temperature. Izod or Charpy impact strength data are widely regarded as a primary performance index for these materials, but cannot be used for quantitative design. Although fracture mechanics analysis offers a substantial advance, the impact fracture resistance for some polymers varies substantially with configuration (the shape and size of the body and the impact speed) rather than being a material constant as expected. A model of brittle impact fracture as a process of local fusion within a rapidly-loaded crack-tip craze explains this variation quantitatively. The model leads to a method of correlating impact fracture in different configurations, which is demonstrated here using a case study.

Author Information

Leevers, PS
Imperial College, London, UK
Douglas, M
Imperial College, London, UK
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Details
Developed by Committee: D20
Pages: 109–117
DOI: 10.1520/STP14345S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-5422-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-2850-7