Experimental evaluation of contour J integral and energy dissipated in the fracture process zone

The fracture mechanics of ductile thin wall is different from that of thick wall materials which is standardly used in fracture mechanics testing. An appropriate determination of the fracture toughness of thin wall materials can be provided by the direct calculation of the contour J integral. The experimental evaluation of the energy dissipated by the fracture process zone and the newly developed crack is even more fundamental. For related calculations, knowledge of several physical quantities is necessary such as crack path and processing zone shape, strain–stress field and plastic deformation evolution. Several experimental methods in conjunction with numerical post-processing were employed.