Profilometric imaging of fracture surfaces of rubber toughened polymer has been performed at two different resolutions (a) at large scales [10 μm–25 mm] using an opto-mechanical profilometer and (b) at small scales [0.195 μm–0.48 mm] using an interferometric optical microscope. We introduced a self-affine geometrical model using two parameters: the Hurst exponent and the topothesy. We showed that for rubber toughened materials the approximation of the created surface by a mean flat plane leads to a poor estimation of the dynamic fracture energy G Idc. The description of the created rough fracture surface by a self-affine model is shown to provide a significantly better approximation. A new and original geometrical method is introduced to estimate self-affine parameters: the 3D surface scaling method. Hurst exponents are shown to be unique, χ = 0.6 ± 0.1 for the different fracture zones and measurement scales. Topothesy ratios indicate a significant difference of fracture surface roughness amplitude depending on the observation resolution when the detrending technique is not correctly introduced.
CITATION STYLE
Kopp, J. B., Schmittbuhl, J., Noel, O., & Fond, C. (2015). A self-affine geometrical model of dynamic RT-PMMA fractures: implications for fracture energy measurements. International Journal of Fracture, 193(2), 141–152. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10704-015-0025-2
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