Experimental and numerical investigation of model I dynamic fracture toughness of 95W-3.5Ni-1.5Fe alloy using the semi-circular bend specimens

Semi-circular bend specimens are used to measure the brittle materials' fracture toughness, such as brittle metals, rocks, and ceramic materials. The quasi-static and dynamic model I fracture toughness of tungsten heavy alloy, a typical brittle metal material, are measured using the semi-circular bend specimens under quasi-static compression and dynamic impact loadings. For quasi-static cases, the specimens are loaded on a universal testing machine with a constant loading speed. While for dynamic cases, the specimens are executed on a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar system with the impact pressures from 0.2 to 0.4 MPa. The results show that the dynamic fracture toughness of tungsten alloy increases with the increase of the loading rate. Further, a rate-dependent bilinear traction-separation law is introduced to explain the dynamic fracture behaviors of tungsten alloy. The parameters of the rate-dependent law are obtained from the experiments and the finite element simulations. Finally, the dynamic simi-circular bend simulations using the cohesive element with rate-dependent cohesive law are established to simulate the crack propagation, and the simulation results are in good agreement with the test data.