Stress corrosion crack growth in glass/polyester composites with surface crack

The propagation characteristics of stress corrosion surface cracks and crac k growth rates in a range of unidirectional glass/polyester composites expo sed to 0.6 N dilute HCl acid were examined using a fracture mechanics test. Glass/polyester composites were produced from continuous rovings using fil ament winding method. The shallow surface cracks with various a/c and alt r atios were machined on the specimens and under uniaxial tension were expose d to one side stress corrosion. The stress intensity factors for glass/poly ester composites with surface cracks are obtained from Newman-Raju, Nishiok a, and single edge notch expressions. The material constants, such as A and n, are related to crack growth rate and the stress intensity factors were obtained for the test conditions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.