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Phys. Rev. A 43, 4396 - 4400 (1991)

Statistical-thermodynamic approach to fracture

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Robin L. Blumberg Selinger, Zhen-Gang Wang, and William M. Gelbart
Department of Chemistry, University of California at Los Angeles, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90024

Avinoam Ben-Shaul
Department of Physical Chemistry and Fritz Haber Research Center for Molecular Dynamics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel

Received 11 December 1990

We present a statistical-thermodynamic theory that associates fracture of a solid with the approach of a spinodal upon increasing stress. This formulation is illustrated by a one-dimensional model, and the temperature dependence of the nonlinear stress-strain relation and fracture stress is obtained. A two-dimensional network model is treated by both effective-medium theory and Monte Carlo simulations, showing metastability and the nucleation of microcracks.


©1991 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.43.4396
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.43.4396
PACS: 64.60.Qb, 62.20.Mk, 05.50.+q, 64.60.My

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