Kinetics of Mode I Crack Growth in a Viscoelastic Polymeric Material with Nanoinclusions.

The long-term fracture of a plate made of an isotropic linear viscoelastic nanocomposite with a mode I crack is studied. A technique for experimental determination of the viscoelastic characteristics of a nanocomposite is employed. The efficiency of the approach proposed is validated considering data obtained in experiments with real composites. It is shown that the shape of kinetic curves and plate durability significantly depend on the fracture parameters and the concentration of nanoinclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]