Summary
The essential work of fracture (EWF) is the most straightforward method to assess the toughness of ductile polymer films and sheets in which per se plane-stress conditions prevail. The interest is focused, however, on the determination of the plane-strain fracture toughness being a material parameter. It was demonstrated that the plane-strain essential work of fracture (determined in dynamic tensile impact tests) agreed well with that of the yielding-related specific essential work of fracture concluded from static mechanical tests for an amorphous copolyester sheet. This agreement still held when the plane-strain essential work of fracture derived by considering the experimental data in the plane-stress/plane-strain transition range (laying below the lower threshold ligament for which a linear regression was adopted) for a thicker sheet of the same polymer has been considered.
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Received: 13 March 2001/Revised version: 12 June 2001/Accepted: 12 June 2001
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Karger-Kocsis, J., Ferrer-Balas, D. On the plane-strain essential work of fracture of polymer sheets. Polymer Bulletin 46, 507–512 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002890170039
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002890170039