User Project Details

EWF

Essential Work of Fracture

Solid State Physics

Universität Stuttgart

Institut für Materialprüfung,Werkstoffkunde und Festigkeitslehre (IMWF)

The influence of temperature plays an important role in the characterization of polymers and plastics. The intrinsic heating during mechanical loading has not been considered yet. Knowing the precise thermal behaviour under loading enables to draw conclusions on the molecular processes and to formulate dependent fracture dynamics. It is not unreasonable to believe that crack growth is inhibited by softening processes or supported by decomposition. For this, on one hand, the maximum temperature rise is of great importance and on the other hand the temporal and spatial distribution of the heat plays a significant role. Both can now be measured with state-of-the-art thermal imaging equipment and predicted with molecular dynamic structural simulation. Energy release during fracture has been of much interest in the past. Coarse-grained Molecular Dynamics will allow to access these quantities and be used for comparision with the experimental observations.