Brittle Fracture of PMMA under Combination of In-plane and Out-of-plane Shear Loading

Since most of cracked components are subjected to mixed mode loading, studying the fracture behavior of different materials under these conditions is necessary. In order to do so, theoretical and experimental assessments have to be performed together. In this study, a novel test configuration (composed of a specimen and a loading fixture) is presented for conducting mixed mode II/III fracture tests. Simple geometry, less complexity and ease of set-up are some advantages of this configuration. Several experiments are performed on a brittle material called PMMA (Polymethyl-methacrylate). A comparison between the experimental data and the theoretical estimations shows that the obtained experimental results are in a good consistency with the predictions of Richard fracture criterion.