The superposition model and environmental crack propagation in low‐density polyethylene

摘要

AbstractA study has been made of dynamic and static fatigue failure phenomena in low‐density polyethylene (ρ = 0.912) of MF17 in a methanol environment using SEN specimens. The type of failure, namely, crack propagation, was the same in both conditions and the results were analyzed using fracture mechanics concepts. A previous model for correlating environmental dynamic and static fatigue crack growth in metals was applied to this polymeric material, and good agreement was found between experimental and predicted behavior when the strain‐rate sensitivity of the threshold value of the stress intensity factor was taken into acc