Further examination of the criterion for crack initiation under mixed-mode I plus III loading

Mixed-mode fracture presents spectacular, scale-independent, pattern formation in nature and engineering applications. The criteria for crack initiation and growth under such mixed mode loading, however, are not well established. This work is aimed at exploring the failure criteria and the pattern formation under combined modes I and III. Specific designs of specimens based on boundary element simulations are considered with the aim of examining crack path selection at nucleation, threshold behavior of crack front fragmentation and, spacing of fragmentation. Experimental investigations with these specially designed geometries show that there does not exist a threshold ratio of K-III(infinity)/K-I(infinity) below which a crack will propagate smoothly without fragmenting into facets. The crack front is shown to fragment immediately as soon as it is perturbed by a small amplitude mode III loading. The experimental results show further that spacing of the fragmentation is set not by any intrinsic length scale of the material, but by the characteristic dimension of the driving crack and the global loading.