An analysis of ductile rupture modes at a crack tip (Q1081410)

An elastic-viscoplastic model of a ductile, porous solid is used to study the influence of the nucleation and growth of micro-voids in the material near the tip of a crack. Conditions of small scale yielding are assumed, and the numerical analyses of the stress and strain fields are based on finite strain theory, so that crack tip blunting is fully accounted for. An array of large inclusions or inclusion colonies, with a relatively low strength, results in large voids near the crack tip at a rather early stage, whereas small second phase particles in the matrix material between the inclusions require large strains before cavities nucleate. Various distributions of the large inclusions, and various critical strains for nucleation of the small scale voids between the inclusions, are considered. Localization of plastic flow plays an important role in determining the failure path between the crack tip and the nearest larger void, and the path is strongly sensitive to the distribution of the large inclusions. Values of the J-integral and the crack opening displacement at fracture initiation are estimated, together with values of the tearing modulus during crack growth, and these values are related to experimental results.