Dynamic ductile fracture of 7075-T6 – an experimental analysis

Dynamic moiré interferometry fringes surrounding a rapidly propagating crack in single edge notched, 7075-T6 aluminum specimen of 1.6 mm thickness were used to compare directly the T ∗ ε -integral values associated with a near-crack integration contour, the crack-tip opening angles and the elastic strain energy release rate, G. While T ∗ ε reached a steady state value and remained constant at the terminal crack velocity, G followed the well-known gamma curve and varied with the crack driving force at the terminal velocity. This limited result may be an indication of the inadequacy in linear elastic fracture mechanics characterization of dynamic ductile fracture.