Dynamic Fracture in Brittle Materials

Abstract : Substantial progress has made in three of the proposed problem areas as described below. Moreover, the P.I's research evolved to other areas not in the proposal but relevant to the same material application areas. These contributions are also discussed below: Dynamic Crack Growth in Functionally Graded Material: The P.I. and his Ph.D. student, David Zeigler (degree conferred August 2001), considered the problem of dynamic crack growth along an interface in a functionally graded composite material. In such a material, the constitutive properties vary smoothly away front a bi-material interface. Such composite material systems are of increasing importance in technological applications since they offer the prospect of creating laminated composite materials that are not susceptible to the debonding failure occuring at traditional bi-material interfaces due to the mismatch in material properties.