Fracture of a Bimaterial Plate with a Crack along the Interface

Abstract

A thorough study of the fracture behaviour of a bimaterial plate with a crack along the interface was undertaken. The plate was subjected to a uniform normal stress at infinity, while its two phases were perfectly bonded along the interface. The angle of initial crack propagation into either of the two phases and the corresponding critical failure loads were determined for many material combinations of the plate by using the strain energy density criterion proposed by Sih. Finally, the fracture trajectories from the crack tip for conditions of unstable fracture were determined.