Influence of damage in the vicinity of a crack-tip in embossed low-basis-weight paper

It is experimentally observed that the fracture process developed in an embossed paper sample having a periodic matrix organized pattern is distributed over several indentation rows in the region near a macroscopic crack. This observation suggests that the stresses at the tip of the crack is shielded by damage in neighboring rows of indentation: energy dissipation may occur not only at the tip of the main crack, but in several indentation rows parallel to the main crack. In this investigation, a model describing the in-plane fracture behavior of embossed low-basis-weight paper is developed. It is found that the model is capable of capturing the development of damage in rows parallel to the main crack and compares well with experimental results. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.