How cracks propagate in a vitreous dense biopolymer material

Crack propagation in vitreous biopolymer material is studied considering numerical and experimental aspects. Finite Element computation is performed to predict crack propagation in starch material. Maximum dilatational strain energy criterion is used as a criterion for crack propagation. Model validation is undertaken considering notched specimens with a hole under tensile loading. The experimental results show that the crack path is affected by the presence of the defect, which allows adequate testing of the crack propagation criterion under a mixed mode. The predicted results show that the selected criterion anticipates adequately the crack propagation in vitreous starch under linear elastic conditions.