Abstract
Fractures in ductile thin-sheet structures, such as a fuselage or automobile panels, often occur under complex loading conditions. In particular, under remote mixed-mode I/III loading conditions, a cracked structure is subjected to a combination of in-plane tension and large out-of-plane tearing deformation, which may lead to crack tip fields consisting of all three fracture modes (modes I, II, and III). Understanding such fracture events in ductile materials is an important component of the structural integrity analysis of load-bearing structures containing ductile, thin sheets. Due to the complex nature of mixed-mode I/III fracture in ductile thin-sheet materials, reports of experimental investigations are very limited in the literature. We configure three-dimensional digital image correlation (3D-DIC) systems to acquire full-field deformations during the loading and stable tearing processes. The full-field deformation measurements are used to characterize the stable crack extension behavior of an aluminum alloy undergoing quasistatic and dynamic mixed-mode I/III loading. Results confirm that 3D-DIC is an excellent methodology for measuring 3-D deformations in the presence of large out-of-plane warping and motion, both dynamically and statically. Data obtained during the fracture process indicate that the introduction of a mode III component into the loading process alters the crack tip displacement and strain fields relative to those measured in the nominally mode I loading. Furthermore, the measured crack-opening displacement (COD) values during quasistatic and impact mixed-mode I/III fracture show that (1) COD is nearly constant for crack extension beyond 2 mm and (2) COD under combined-mode I/III loading is four times larger than observed during mixed-mode I/II or mode I fracture of the same material, indicating that the magnitude of the critical COD is a function of loading mode in highly ductile, thin-sheet materials.
