Issue 43

D. Gentile, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 43 (2018) 155-170; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.43.12 161 Material Thickness [mm] DCB available DCB tested DCB rejected ENF available ENF tested ENF rejected TA1 3.8 6 6 0 6 0 6 T3 5.0 6 6 0 6 4 0 T6 5.0 5 3 2 5 4 0 M1 7.3 5 5 0 5 0 0 M8 7.3 7 7 0 7 4 0 L1 3.8 9 9 0 9 4 0 L2 3.8 9 5 0 9 4 0 Total 47 41 2 47 20 6 Table 1: Summary of materials and specimens available and tested. Figure 5: Sketch of the possible loading configuration using hinges or loading block in DCB specimen, ASTM : D 5528, [13]. The hinge selection has been made based on the estimated maximum load expected in test as given by:  3 11 max 96 Ic h E G b P a (19) Assuming  11 150 E GPa and conservatively  2 1.5 / Ic G kJ m ,  4 h mm ,  25 b mm , with  50 a mm the maximum expected load found is 193 N, that is 20 kg approximately. Based on this estimation, a steel plane hinge available on-the-shelf, W=25, L=50 and t=1.0 mm long, has been selected The length of the hinge wing bonded to the specimen has been reduced to 25 mm. The other hinge wing (50 mm) allows a proper grip and positioning with the testing machine gripping fixture, as shown in Fig. 6. In order to avoid that the hinge could eventually loose under the applied load resulting in an increase of the overall compliance, a traction test has been performed in order to measure the maximum allowable load in tension. This value resulted to be 1200 N approximately, much higher of the maximum load expected for the used experimental configuration. The perfect adhesion between the specimen external surface and the hinge wing is fundamental for the good result of the test. A poor adhesion may result in a partial debonding and, consequently, in an apparent increase of the specimen compliance and error in the G I estimation. In order to identify the best configuration three different epoxy bi-component glues have been tested. It is important to underline that a brittle glue would eventually result in a premature detachment of the hinge while a too ductile glue would result in an excessive deformation and incomplete load transfer. In all the cases the