The effect of groove and notch tip angles on testing fracture toughness by SEVNB method: models and experimental validation

The single-edged V-notch beam (SEVNB) method is considered as an effective method for evaluating the fracture toughness values of brittle materials. In this method, it is assumed that the V-notch is a natural crack. However, this assumption may cause an overestimation of the fracture toughness due to the "notch passivation effect". To investigate the effects of the V-notch and groove tip angles on the fracture toughness testing of ceramic materials, three typical models were established in this work. The stress intensity factors of these models were calculated using a J-integral based on the linear finite element method (LFEM). The results indicated that the measured fracture toughness values could be overestimated by 0.5%- 13.7% when the angle of the V-notch tip increased from 10 degrees to 60 degrees. Increasing the angle formed by the V-notch and groove from 10 degrees to 60 degrees, fracture toughness was overevaluated by about 0% - 2.0%. When the angle formed by the V-notch and groove increased to 120 degrees, the fracture toughness was overevaluated by about 31%. Finally, two equations were fitted to assess the angles effects on fracture toughness, and the results have been validated by experiments. An important reference for the SEVNB method can be found in this work.