Thermal noise and the branching threshold in brittle fracture
Materials Science
2009-10-31 v1
Abstract
Many studies have confirmed that cracks in brittle materials branch when the crack speed exceeds a certain threshold velocity, but the value of that threshold is not understood. Almost all theoretical calculations overestimate the threshold by factors of two or more. We show that thermal noise can reduce the threshold by a substantial amount, and we propose that this effect can account for the discrepancy.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9901166,
title = {Thermal noise and the branching threshold in brittle fracture},
author = {L. M. Sander and S. V. Ghaisas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9901166},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 5 figures, Latex