Root Rotation and Plastic Work Effects in the Peel Test

A review of the analysis to determine the global energy release rate in the peel test is given. The local bending at the root is then analysed using large displacement elastic beam theory and the role of the beam root rotation in partitioning the energy between bending and direct transmission is demonstrated. The analysis is further refined using an elastic-plastic solution incorporating a model for predicting the root rotation. The resulting solution appears to predict observed variations in peel energy with thickness and angle.