Currently, in order to create a sharp pre-crack in a polymeric material for fracture toughnessudtesting, a hand-held razor blade is used. This technique produces cracks of varyingudangle, length, and crack-front shape. Additionally, there are considerable safety concernsudregarding the handling of sharp razor blades. A repeatable, safe method of producing audconsistent, sharp pre-crack of a specified length, orientation and crack front is presentedudhere, by use of a simple custom fixture. The specimen preparation procedure has wideudapplicability for fracture analysis of many brittle materials.
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