Nonlinear mechanical (multiaxial) fatigue of polymers

Failure of a material under a repetitive load is called (mechanical) fatigue. Our goal is to substantially improve the understanding of the fatigue process by following continuously the material’s properties/response to a specific type of load during a test. We have developed some understanding for tests in torsion, allowing us to detect macroscopic cracks instantaneously from the materials response, with no need of external devices like a video recording or to predict the lifetime of a sample during the tests from its properties. The goal of our project is to show that our theories still work under more complex but more realistic conditions. For example in biaxial fatigue; i.e. when the sample is deformed in two ways at the same time, mainly by a combination of torsion and elongation. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Denis Rodrigue

Student:

Partner:

Université François-Rabelais de Tours

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Education

University:

Université Laval

Program: