Experimental and numerical investigation of the influence of temperature on the fracture behavior of high impact polystyrene evaluated by the J-integral approach using multiple specimen method

The aim of the present work is to study the mechanical behavior in fracture of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) subjected to tensile tests under the effect of temperature to determine the R-curves. The theory of the J-integral contour has been used for the development of a characterization method of the fracture strength appropriate to the case of this non-linear elastoplastic polymer material. To this end, we used the method of multiple specimens (Single edge notch tension SENT) of thin thickness; we used several identical test pieces containing cracks of the same lengths. The tensile tests were conducted under different temperatures, ranging from 25°C to 100°C. The results suggested a very temperature-dependent behavior due to significant increase in crack resistance as demonstrated by a comparison of J IC values related to initiation of crack propagation. The fracture energy absorbed as a function of the temperature suggested that the increase of the temperature is marked by the brittle-ductile transition in the material, which we confirmed numerically via a CASTEM software simulation.