The Use of Various Measurement Methods for Estimating the Fracture Energy of PLA (Polylactic Acid)

The essential work of fracture (EWF) and Izod/Charpy impact tests have been used to investigate the fracture toughness in the plane stress of brittle polymers. In this paper, we had three goals: first, we aimed to employ how to estimate PLA toughness in different geometries; then, we proposed to compare Izod and Charpy Impact toughness in the same geometry; finally, we intended to determine the difference between EWF toughness and dynamic toughness. The results showed that the EWF method could be applied to evaluate PLA fracture behavior with small ligaments (2–4 mm), while the dynamic test could be employed with larger ligaments (5–7 mm). A comparison of the two impact test results obtained the following conclusions: Charpy impact toughness was higher than Izod impact toughness in the same geometry, and the impact toughness under a notch angle of 90° was larger than that of an angle of 45°. Both EWF and dynamic tests can be used to explore PLA toughness with small ligaments. The fracture energy decreases with ligament size in the EWF test, but it increases in the dynamic test.