Fracture Toughness of Freshwater Ice—Part II: Analysis and Micrography

Abstract

Experiments have been performed to determine the effect of loading rate and temperature on the fracture toughness of freshwater ice. A first paper (Weber and Nixon, 1996) presents the experimental technique and results, while this paper focuses on discussion of the crack tip process zone and fracture surface micrography. A simple method to estimate the size of the process zone will be presented. Also, fracture surface micrography will be used to interpret the results of the temperature experiments by considering evidence of dislocation activity in preferentially oriented grains.