The mechanics of interface fracture in layered composite materials: (4) buckling driven delamination of thin layer materials

Analytical theories were developed for studying post-local buckling-driven delamination of thin layer materials under in-plane compressive stresses which can arise from externally applied mechanical loads, thermal stresses due to mismatch of coefficients of thermal expansion between the thin layer material and the thick substrates, the intercalation stresses due to electrochemical lithiation and delithiation, and etc. The development was based on three mixed mode partition theories. They are Euler beam or classical plate, Timoshenko beam or shear deformable plate [1-5] and 2D-elasticity [6-8] theories. Independent experimental tests [9] show that, in general, the analytical partitions based on the Euler beam or classical plate theory predicts the propagation behaviour very well and much better than the partitions based on the Timoshenko beam and 2D-elasticity theories.