Toughening due to transformations induced by a crack tip stress field in ferroelastic materials (Q675640)

We examine the effects on the SIF ( stress intensity factor) of the deviatoric and shear ferroelastic transformations and phase switching near the crack tip for plane strain deformations of ferroelastic-type crystals. Motivated by experimental observations, we confine ourselves to those materials whose paraelastic phase is marked by low anisotropy and therefore can be idealized as isotropic. It is found that the transformed zone ahead of a stationary crack tip contributes nothing to the SIF for single and bi-crystals. Numerical results for the steady-state and quasi-static crack growth are verified by the energy method. The computed results agree qualitatively with the observed values for NiTi-SMA of low anisotropy.