Curves of Rubber Modified Polystyrenes: The Use of Load Separation Parameter to determine Instantaneous Crack Lengths

FRONTINI, PATRICIA; FASCE, LAURA; RUEDA, FEDERICO

Conferencia; 12th International Conference on Fracture; 2009

Through this work J-R curves under quasi-static and impact loading conditions of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) polymers differing in composition and morphology were determined using the Load Separation Parameter to infer the instantaneous crack growth length. The two advantages of this alternative method over the usual multi-specimen technique are: i) it only requires one sharp and one blunt-notched load–displacement record and ii) it does not necessarily requires final crack length measurement, which is not trivial under impact loadings. The method was validated by the comparison of the estimated J-R curve with the multi-specimen technique for a commercial HIPS. The pseudo-initiation parameter, J0.2, was taken as the fracture toughness.