CALCULATING FRACTURE TOUGHNESS I need to calculate the fract

CALCULATING FRACTURE TOUGHNESS

I need to calculate the fracture toughness of duct tape by making a crack (cut) in the tape and applying weight to find the critical crack length. The equation im given is below and it says that Y is a geometrical factor. I am unsure what this actually is. I know that sigma is tensile stress and Im assuming that the c variable is the crack length.

The dimensions of the duct tape are thickness = 0.00016m and the width = 0.048m. For a crack length of 0.007 meters the applied weight to propagate the crack is 8.4kg.

Solution

Here Y is nothing but geometry factor or it is also called the stress intensity factor which depends upon the cross section you choose. Depending on the geometry of the duct tape you choose the formulas vary and stress intensity factors can be calculated accordingly.

c is nothing but the crack length