Polymer and Composite Fracture under Deep Sea Pressure Conditions

摘要

This paper presents a new test facility designed to allow the properties of materials to be studied in the deep sea pressure environment. A 100 MPa pressure vessel is mounted on a 20 ton capacity test frame. Tests up to 30 MPa can be followed visually through a view-glass. This allows image analysis techniques to be applied. Standard tension, compression and flexure tests can be performed. Fracture tests have also been performed on polymer and composites and are described here, for pressures of 4, 300 and 900 bars.