Measurement of opening displacement of bifurcated cracks by high-speed holographic microscopy and moire & interferometry

High-speed holographic microscopy is applied to take successive microscopic photographs of a fast propagating crack at bifurcation. The crack speed is about 650 m/s. From the photographs, crack opening displacements (CODs) of the mother crack and two bifurcated branches are measured along the crack. A specimen with a notch is also made, where the notch has the bifurcated notch tip same as the bifurcated fast propagating crack. Opening displacement of the notch is measured by Moiré interferometry under static loading condition. The measurement results show that the opening displacements of both the mother crack of the bifurcated fast propagating crack and the mother notch of the bifurcated notch are proportional to square root of the distance r from the crack or the notch tip. The opening displacements of the two bifurcated branches of the notch are also proportional to √. But the CODs of the bifurcated branches of the fast propagating crack are not always proportional to √.