Analysis of Propagating Crack Along Interface of Isotropic-Orthotropic Bimaterial by Photoelastic Experiment

Interfacial cracks between an isotropic and orthotropic material, subjected to static far field tensile loading are analyzed using the technique of photoelasticity. The fracture parameters are extracted from the full-field isochromatic data and the same are compared with that obtained using boundary collocation method. Dynamic Photoelasticity combined with high-speed digital photography is employed for capturing the isochromatics in the case of propagating interfacial cracks. The normalized stress intensity factors for static crack is greater when $\alpha=90^{\circ}C$ (fibers perpendicular to the interface) than when $\alpha=0^{\circ}C$ (fiber parallel to the interface) and those when $\alpha=90^{\circ}C$ are similar to ones of isotropic material. The dynamic stress intensity factors for interfacial propagating crack are greater when $\alpha=0^{\circ}C$ than $\alpha=90^{\circ}C$. The relationship between complex dynamic stress intensity factor $|K_D|$ and crack speed C is similar to that for isotropic homogeneous materials, the rate of increase of energy release rate G or $|K_D|$ with crack speed is not as drastic as that reported for homogeneous materials.