Fracture and Failure of Brittle Materials under Biaxial Stress

Brittle thin plate with a straight-through crack under biaxial and uniaxial tension in-planewas investigated by thermomechanical method. The critical stress intensity factor under those twoloading modes was measured with disk-shaped specimens of glass and ceramics . The results showthat the crack resistance of brittle materials increases with increasing stress paxallel to the crackplane. The effects of biaxial stress reveal that the conventional criterion with the stress intensityfactor is imperfect for biaxial stress issues. It is demonstrated that the crack opening and growthis governed by the strain at the crack tip.