Crack tip fields in rubber‐toughened polymers

Abstract

Numerical simulations of the formation and the characteristic shape of plastic zones at crack tips in rubber‐toughened polymers are performed in order to get a better understanding of the underlying micromechanisms. Complementing previous work, the present study focuses on the contribution of distributed crazing. A macroscopic constitutive model therefore has been developed that describes the overall effect of distributed crazing as an anisotropic flow process. (© 2011 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)