'Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Architecture'
Abstract
A study is carried out into fracture behavior of steel/steel laminates both experimentally and through finite element analysis (FEM). The laminates produced by hot pressing consisted of low carbon and medium carbon steels with two volume fractions; 0.41 and 0.81. Fracture toughness, JIC has been measured using partial unloading technique assuming a critical value of crack extension. The technique is initially applied to monolithic material and then to the laminates in crack divider orientation. Evaluation of fracture toughness of laminates indicates that there is a substantial improvement of JIC with increase in the volume fraction. The systems under study were also evaluated by FEM modeling with the use MARC package program. To evaluate JIC, the problem has been evaluated in several steps; first two-dimensional plane strain problem is considered. This is followed by three-dimensional case and then by an artificially layered system, all for monolithic materials. Values of JIC derived were close to one another in all cases. Following this verification, the method, as implemented in layered monolithic system, was applied to laminates. This has shown that JIC of laminates can be predicted using FEM analysis, including the delamination. Values of JIC varied in the same manner as the experiment verifying that fracture toughness in the current system increases with increase in volume fraction. It has been concluded that modeling as implemented in this work can be used for useful composite systems incorporating hard/brittle reinforcements both in crack divider and crack arrester orientation.Ph.D. - Doctoral Progra
