We propose a minimal nonlinear model of brittle crack propagation by considering only the motion of the crack-tip atom. The model captures many essential features of steady-state crack velocity and is in excellent quantitative agreement with many-body dynamical simulations. The model exhibits lattice-trapping. For loads just above this, the crack velocity rises sharply, reaching a limiting valu...

Plate impact experiments are conducted to study the dynamic fracture processes in 4340 VAR steel which occur on submicrosecond timescales. These experiments involve the plane strain loading of a planar crack by a plane tensile pulse with a duration of approximately 1 /xs. The loading is achieved by impacting a precracked, disk-shaped specimen by a thin flyer plate. Motion of the rear surface of...

The rate-dependent fracture behavior of a 10-phr rubber-modified epoxy was investigated using double-cantilever-beam tests at various crosshead speeds. Dramatic rate effects were observed in the R-curve behavior and in the relationship between the applied energy-release rate and the crack velocity. Furthermore, a transition between fracture with toughening mechanisms operating (kinetic crack gr...

For a crack in a structure, the crack driving force G is the reduction of the elastic energy in the structure, associated with the crack extending per unit area. In principle, G can be calculated by solving a boundary value problem. In practice, however, such a calculation is prohibitively difficult for integrated structures of complex architectures, diverse materials and small features. The ca...

We have studied the propagation of a crack front along the heterogeneous weak plane of a transparent poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) block using two different loading conditions: imposed constant velocity and creep relaxation. We have focused on the intermittent local dynamics of the fracture front for a wide range of average crack front propagation velocities spanning over four decades. We co...

A controlled crack growth was achieved in single edge—cracked specimens made of a high—molecular weight PNNA by regulating the cross— head speed of loading of the specimens by a computer—driven testing device. The crosshead speeds used during the tests were varied between v =1x107m/s and 1X1O5m/s. 5 It was shown that in this area of very slow quasi—static loading of brittle plexiglas specimens ...

We describe experiments on the dynamic fracture of the brittle plastic, PMMA. The results suggest a view of the fracture process that is based on the existence and subsequent evolution of an instability, which causes a single crack to become unstable to frustrated microscopic branching events. We demonstrate that a number of long-standing questions in the dynamic fracture of amorphous, brittle ...

-The isochromatic fringe patterns surrounding an intersonically propagating interface crack are developed and characterized using the recently developed stress field equations. A parametric investigation is conducted to study the influence of various parameters such as the crack-tip velocity and the contact coefficient on the isochromatic fringe patterns. It has been observed that the crack-tip...

A puzzling question in dynamic fracture has been why cracks in amorphous brittle materials always travel at velocities smaller than the Rayleigh wave speed. The answer is that the energy per length needed for the crack to propagate depends strongly on velocity. As the energy flux to the crack tip increases, the crack chooses new modes of dissipation such as micro-cracking and the creation of su...

A sharp interface model of crack propagation as a phase transition process is discussed. We develop a multipole expansion technique to solve this free boundary problem numerically. We obtain steady state solutions with a self-consistently selected propagation velocity and shape of the crack, provided that elastodynamic effects are taken into account. Also, we find a saturation of the steady sta...