Crack front propagation by kink formation

The fracture of a three-dimensional brittle solid generates two-dimensional surfaces, which are formed behind a one-dimensional crack front. For quasi-static cracks on a (111) cleavage plane in silicon front propagation by kink-pair formation was proposed and proven by a reaction pathway analysis wi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Europhysics letters 2009-09, Vol.87 (6), p.66004
Main Authors: Rösch, F, Trebin, H.-R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
02.70.Ns
61.72.-y
62.20.mj
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The fracture of a three-dimensional brittle solid generates two-dimensional surfaces, which are formed behind a one-dimensional crack front. For quasi-static cracks on a (111) cleavage plane in silicon front propagation by kink-pair formation was proposed and proven by a reaction pathway analysis with Stillinger-Weber potentials. Here, we demonstrate that the kink-pair mechanism is much more general: we also observe it in molecular-dynamics simulations of a complex metallic alloy, the C15 NbCr2 Friauf-Laves phase, where we applied carefully selected embedded-atom-method potentials. The numerical experiments highlight that kink formation is essential for crack propagation in any brittle material.
ISSN:0295-5075
1286-4854
DOI:10.1209/0295-5075/87/66004