Issue 19

G. Bolzon et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 19 (2012) 20-28; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.19.02 20 Characterization of fracture properties of thin aluminum inclusions embedded in anisotropic laminate composites Gabriella Bolzon Department of Structural Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano (Italy) gabriella.bolzon@polimi.it Vladimir Buljak Department of Strength of Materials, University of Belgrade – Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Belgrade (Serbia) Emanuele Zappa Department of Mechanics, Politecnico di Milano, Milano (Italy) A BSTRACT . The fracture properties of thin aluminum inclusions embedded in anisotropic paperboard composites, of interest for food and beverage packaging industry, can be determined by performing tensile tests on non-conventional heterogeneous specimens. The region of interest of the investigated material samples is monitored all along the experiment by digital image correlation techniques, which allow to recover qualitative and quantitative information about the metal deformation and about the evolution of the damaging processes leading to the detachment of the inclusion from the surrounding laminate composite. The interpretation of the laboratory results is supported by the numerical simulation of the tests. S OMMARIO . Le proprietà di frattura di inclusioni metalliche costituite da sottili stati di alluminio in compositi a base di carta, di interesse nel packaging alimentare, possono essere determinate mediante prove di trazione non- convenzionali, condotte su campioni di materiale eterogeneo. La deformazione della regione di interesse nel corso della prova viene monitorata attraverso tecniche di correlazione d’immagini digitali che restituiscono informazioni quantitative, oltre che qualitative, sul fenomeno di progressivo distacco dell’inclusione metallica dal composito laminato che la circonda. L’interpretazione dei risultati sperimentali viene supportata dalla simulazione numerica delle prove di laboratorio. K EYWORDS . Fracture properties; Aluminium; Laminates; Paperboard composites. I NTRODUCTION aterials widely exploited in food and beverage packaging industry consist of layered composites, made of paperboard foils coupled with aluminium and polymer plies. Paperboard production process consists of the lamination of a network of interconnected fibres, which acquire a preferential orientation in the lamination (machine) direction. Thus, the material presents anisotropic overall characteristics, which are transferred to the layered composite formed by further lamination. The final packaging material is also inhomogeneous, due to the different ply sequence provided, for instance, in correspondence of the cap opening areas of beverage packages. The mechanical properties of this complex material system must be adequate to sustain the stresses induced by folding, forming and filling industrial processes without apparent damaging. Non-conventional testing procedures have been therefore designed in M