Experimental investigation of fracture under controlled stress triaxiality using shear-compression disk specimen

Experimental investigation of the effect of stress triaxiality on fracture strain has been performed using the shear-compression disk (SCD) specimen. A series of experiments was carried out under quasi-static loading conditions at triaxiality levels in the range of to . The experiments were designed to generate relatively uniform strain and triaxiality in the sheared zone of the specimen, and a constant level of triaxiality along the entire loading path. The results obtained for SAE 1045 steel are compared to previous studies on the same material which revealed considerable differences. Discussion on possible contributing factors to the differences, and the potential of the SCD specimen for fracture investigations are discussed.