Some observations on the fracture of poly(ethylene terephthalate) film

Abstract

Recent work on the applications of linear elastic fracture mechanics to the problem of ductile tearing and fracture of poly(ethylene terephthalate) film is reviewed. It is shown that, even for a brittle plastic, there can be no direct correlation between the amount of slow crack growth and stress intensity factor. The Dugdale model, combined with a constant crack opening displacement criterion, is then used to correlate both initiation and final fracture results for poly(ethylene terephthalate) film extended in the extrusion direction. Also, the model is able to justify the use of linear elastic fracture mechanics for a limited range of crack initiation results.