Get cracking! Fatigue crack propagation in UHMWPE
Fatigue crack propagation testing provides users information about the resistance of a material to crack initiation and propagation under cyclical loading. Currently, ASTM E647 is used to monitor the crack propagation behavior of plastic and metallic materials. Engineers at Cambridge Polymer Group have developed an automated optical system that allows real-time assessment of crack length during a fatigue crack test. Two laboratories compared test results using this optical system on UHMWPE samples, with the results presented at the 7th Annual UHMWPE conference in Philadelphia, PA in October 2015. The presentation can be found here.