Frassine, Rink, Pavan
# 1995 Edinburgh
Creep fracture tests were canied out on a pipe grade polyethylene using arc-shaped notched specimens loaded in four point bending. Under all conditions examined, discontinuous crack growth was observed. The fracture process is analysed considering each single stage of the discontinuous crack propagation independently. An attempt to interpret the results in the framework of viscoelastic fracture theories has lead to the conclusion that the DugdaleBarenblatt's model is unable to predict the correct size of the process zone in this material.
