Slow crack propagation in heterogeneous materials (original) (raw)

Crack propagation, arrest and statistics in heterogeneous materials

J. Stat. Mech., 2008

We investigate theoretically statistics and thermally activated dynamics of crack nucleation and propagation in a two-dimensional heterogeneous material containing quenched randomly distributed defects. We consider a crack tip dynamics accounting for dissipation, thermal noise and the random forces arising from the elastic interactions of the crack opening with the defects. The equation of motion is based on the generalized Griffith criterion and the dynamic energy release rate and gives rise to Langevin-type stochastic dynamics in a quenched disordered potential. For different types of quenched random forces, which are characterized (a) by the range of elastic interactions with the crack tip and (b) the range of correlations between defects, we derive a number of static and dynamic quantities characterizing crack propagation in heterogeneous materials both at zero temperature and in the presence of thermal activation. In the absence of thermal fluctuations we obtain the nucleation and propagation probabilities, typical arrest lengths, the distribution of crack lengths and of critical forces. For thermally activated crack propagation we calculate the mean time to fracture. Depending on the range of elastic interactions between crack tip and frozen defects, heterogeneous material exhibits brittle or ductile fracture. We find that aggregations of defects generating long-range interaction forces (e.g. clouds of dislocations) lead to anomalously slow creep of the crack tip or even to its complete arrest. We demonstrate that heterogeneous materials with frozen defects contain a large number of arrested microcracks and that their fracture toughness is enhanced to the experimentally accessible timescales.

Crack propagation in brittle heterogeneous solids: Material disorder and crack dynamics

International Journal of Fracture, 2010

Crack propagation in a linear elastic material with weakly inhomogeneous failure properties is analyzed. An equation of motion for the crack is derived in the limit of slow velocity. Predictions of this equation on both the average crack growth velocity and its fluctuations are compared with recent experimental results performed on brittle heterogeneous materials (Ponson in Phys Rev Lett, 103, 055501; Måløy et al. in Phys Rev Lett, 96, 045501). They are found to reproduce quantitatively the main features of crack propagation in disordered systems. This theoretical framework provides new tools to predict life time and fracture energy of materials from their properties at the micro-scale.

Fracture Nucleation Phenomena and Thermally Activated Crack Dynamics in Monocrystals

Applied Physics Research, 2021

We explore irreversible thermally activated growth of cracks which are shorter than the Griffith length. Such a growth was anticipated in several studies [Golubović, L. & Feng, S., (1991). Rate of microcrack nucleation, Physical Review A 43, 5223. Golubović, L. & Peredera, A., (1995). Mechanism of time-delayed fractures, Physical Review E 51, 2799]. We explore this thermally activated growth by means of atomistic Monte-Carlo dynamics simulations of stressed monocrystals. This crack growth is stepwise. Each step is marked by nucleation of a microcavity close to the crack tip, and by creation of a passage connecting the microcavity and the crack. If the external tensile stress is weak, many such nucleation events occur before the crack length reaches the Griffith size. In addition to the simulations, we also present an analytic theory of the stepwise thermally activated crack growth. The theory explains surprising observation form our simulations that the thermally activated crack gr...

Fluctuations of Global Energy Release and Crackling in Nominally Brittle Heterogeneous Fracture

Physical Review Letters, 2014

The temporal evolution of mechanical energy and spatially-averaged crack speed are both monitored in slowly fracturing articial rocks. Both signals display an irregular burst-like dynamics, with power-law distributed uctuations spanning a broad range of scales. Yet, the elastic power released at each time step is proportional to the global velocity all along the process, which enables dening a material-constant fracture energy. We characterize the intermittent dynamics by computing the burst statistics. This latter displays the scale-free features signature of crackling dynamics, in qualitative but not quantitative agreement with the depinning interface models derived for fracture problems. The possible sources of discrepancies are pointed out and discussed.

Slow crack propagation through a disordered medium: Critical transition and dissipation

EPL (Europhysics Letters), 2013

We show that the intermittent and self-similar fluctuations displayed by a slow crack during the propagation in a heterogeneous medium can be quantitatively described by an extension of a classical statistical model for fracture. The model yields the correct dynamical and morphological scaling, and allows to demonstrate that the scale invariance originates from the presence of a non-equilibrium, reversible, critical transition which in the presence of dissipation gives rise to self organized critical behaviour.

Thermally activated intermittent dynamics of creeping crack fronts along disordered interfaces

Scientific Reports, 2021

We present a subcritical fracture growth model, coupled with the elastic redistribution of the acting mechanical stress along rugous rupture fronts. We show the ability of this model to quantitatively reproduce the intermittent dynamics of cracks propagating along weak disordered interfaces. To this end, we assume that the fracture energy of such interfaces (in the sense of a critical energy release rate) follows a spatially correlated normal distribution. We compare various statistical features from the obtained fracture dynamics to that from cracks propagating in sintered polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) interfaces. In previous works, it has been demonstrated that such an approach could reproduce the mean advance of fractures and their local front velocity distribution. Here, we go further by showing that the proposed model also quantitatively accounts for the complex self-affine scaling morphology of crack fronts and their temporal evolution, for the spatial and temporal correlation...

A New Criterion for Crack Formation in Disordered Materials

2000

Crack formation is conventionally described as a nucleation phenomenon despite the fact that the temperatures necessary to overcome the nucleation barrier are far too high. In this paper we consider the possibility that cracks are created due to the presence of frozen disorder (e.g. heterogeneities or frozen dislocations). In particular we calculate the probability for the occurrence of a critical crack in a quasi two-dimensional disordered elastic system. It turns out that this probability takes the form of an Arrhenius law (as for thermal nucleation) but with the temperature T replaced by an effective disorder temperature T_eff which depends on the strength of the disorder. The extension of these results to d=3 dimensions is briefly discussed.

Criterion for crack formation in disordered materials

Physical Review B, 2001

Crack formation is conventionally described as a nucleation phenomenon despite the fact that the temperatures necessary to overcome the nucleation barrier are far too high. In this paper we consider the possibility that cracks are created due to the presence of frozen disorder ͑e.g., heterogeneities or frozen dislocations͒. In particular we calculate the probability for the occurrence of a critical crack in a quasi-two-dimensional disordered elastic system. It turns out that this probability takes the form of an Arrhenius law ͑as for thermal nucleation͒ but with the temperature T replaced by an effective disorder temperature T eff which depends on the strength of the disorder. The extension of these results to dϭ3 dimensions is briefly discussed.