Experimental Analysis of Glassy Polymers Fracture Using a Double Notch Four Point-Bending Method

ABSTRACT A twin notch specimen under four point bending is designed to analyse the mechanisms and the properties of glassy polymers fracture. The two notches are submitted to an identical bending moment so that one will fail and provides a measure of the toughness while the other serves as a snap-shot of the strain fields prior to unstable crack propagation. The evolution of the toughness with the loading rate and the influence of the notch radius is analyzed for both PMMA and PC.