The Institute of Polymer Technology (IKT) is working with the Institute of Materials Testing, Materials Science and Strength of Materials (IMWF) on a fracture mechanics model that takes into account the local energy release at the crack tip of amorphous thermoplastics. The temperature dependence of the mechanical properties of plastics leads to local internal temperature changes during crack formation can lead to local softening and unpredictable changes in the properties of individual plastics. An important part of the plastic properties is the temperature effect. The heat evolution of the component itself under mechanical loading was not considered. The research task of IMWF and IKT is to find out how the thermal evolution of components affects crack growth.
The question is, for example, whether crack growth is suppressed by the softening process or whether decomposition is beneficial? Many factors play a role here: These factors are recorded by a high-speed thermal imaging camera in a fast-train test, and molecular dynamic structure simulations are used to predict crack growth.