Mechanical behaviour in tension of cracked glass bridged by an elastomericligament

Mechanical behaviour of cracked glass bridged by an elastomeric ligament is central to properties of cracked glass/polymer laminates and other composi tes. We present a theoretical and experimental study of a glass/polymer/gla ss laminate with single aligned cracks in each glass plate, subjected to te nsile loading. The test involves stable delamination at the interface betwe en the polymer and substrate. The force required to maintain increasing str ain rises to a steady state value. Crack propagation is accompanied by larg e polymer deformation. The polymer has been modeled as an isothermal hypere lastic material. Exact results in the limit of large crack extension relate the steady-stare force to a measure of interfacial fracture energy and ela stic material properties. These have been used to extract glass/polymer adh esion from experimentally measured steady-state force. Force-displacement r elationships have also been derived for the limiting case of small crack le ngths. Together, the results represent a force-displacement model for a cra cked glass/polymer laminate, which can be used to build models for multiply cracked laminates. Finite element simulations of the experiment using cohe sive elements to model the interface have been used to model the entire for ce-displacement response. (C) 2000 Acta Metallurgica Inc. Published by Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.