Experimental Methods of Dynamic Fracture Research

Abstract

Among the experimental methods of research on dynamic crack-growth resistance and fast fracture, the dynamic photoelastic and caustic methods are the most effective. These methods have been developed in the last two decades. The most important feature of these methods is the ability to directly track behavior possibilitis for quantitative characteristics of the material stress state during fracture. This is attained by a combination of classical methods of optical image processing with high-speed photography techniques. In this chapter we will examine principles and peculiarities of both methods as they are applied to fast-start and crack-propagation problems in brittle solids.