ABSTRACT
Fracture mechanics, unlike customary impact tests, provides an ability to separate geometry from material response. However the concept still meets with scepticism and is hardly employed in the plastics industry. The standard notch impact tests are qualitative and produce at best a guide to the relative ranking of various materials for impact strength. Design against crack propagation in materials requires determination of fracture toughness, a material property that indicates the likelihood of a particular crack to cause catastrophic failure.
