Subinterfacial cracks in bimaterial systems subjected to mechanical and thermal loading

The effect of temperature on the propagation paths of subinterfacial cracks is studied. An aluminum/polymethyl-methacrylate bimaterial specimen with l arge mechanical and thermal mismatches is used to investigate the effect of combined thermal and mechanical loads. The stress intensity factor (SIF) g enerated by mechanical loading in the presence of a temperature gradient is obtained by means of experiment and analyzed using the finite element meth od. A full-field optical shearing interferometry technique was used to meas ure the crack tip stress state. The results show that thermal effects can a lter the SIFs sufficiently large enough to change the fracture behavior of subinterfacial cracks. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.