Related papers: How super-tough gels break
By performing extensive simulations with unprecedentedly large system sizes, we unveil how rigidity influences the fracture of disordered materials. We observe the largest damage in networks with connectivity close to the isostatic point…
When a thin film moderately adherent to a substrate is subjected to residual stress, the cooperation between fracture and delamination leads to unusual fracture patterns, such as spirals, alleys of crescents and various types of strips, all…
Large scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed to study and to model the ejecta production from the dynamic fragmentation of shock-loaded metals under melt conditions. A generic 3D crystal in contact with vacuum containing…
The focus of the article is on fracture criteria for dynamic crack propagation in elastic materials with microstructures. Steady-state propagation of a Mode III semi-infinite crack subject to loading applied on the crack surfaces is…
We study the fracture of reversible double transient networks, constituted of water suspensions of entangled surfactant wormlike micelles reversibly linked by various amounts of telechelic polymers. We provide a state diagram that…
The compressive yield stress of particle gels shows a highly nonlinear dependence on the packing fraction. We have studied continuous compression processes, and discussed the packing fraction dependence with the particle scale…
A bonded particle model is used to explore how variations in the material properties of brittle, isotropic solids affect critical behavior in fragmentation. To control material properties, a new model is proposed which includes breakable…
Quasi-brittle behavior where macroscopic failure is preceded by stable damaging and intensive cracking activity is a desired feature of materials because it makes fracture predictable. Based on a fiber bundle model with global load sharing…
Gel electrophoresis is a powerful experimental method to probe the topology of DNA and other biopolymers. While there is a large body of experimental work which allows us to accurately separate different topoisomers of a molecule, a full…
The pattern development of multiple cracks in extremely anisotropic solids such as bilayer or multilayer two-dimensional (2D) crystals contains rich physics, which, however, remains largely unexplored. We studied crack interaction across…
The dynamic fragmentation of residually stressed solids involves a complex interplay between stored elastic energy, stress wave propagation, and crack instabilities. In this work, we investigate the fracture mechanics of chemically…
Material failure is mediated by the propagation of cracks, which in realistic 3D materials typically involve multiple coexisting fracture planes. Multiple fracture-plane interactions create poorly understood out-of-plane crack structures,…
We investigate the delayed rupture of biopolymer gels under a constant shear load by simultaneous dynamic light scattering and rheology measurements. We unveil the crucial role of normal stresses built up during gelation: all samples that…
Crack nucleation is a ubiquitous phenomena during materials failure, because stress focuses on crack tips. It is known that exceptions to this general rule arise in the limit of strong disorder or vanishing mechanical stability, where…
The mechanical resistance of a polyethylene strand subject to tension and the way its properties are affected by the presence of a knot is studied using first-principles molecular dynamics calculations. The distribution of strain energy for…
We force a single particle through a two-dimensional simulated glass. We find that the particle velocity obeys a robust power law that persists to drives well above threshold. As the single driven particle moves, it induces cooperative…
We investigate the fracture of Li-ion battery cathodic particles using a thermodynamically consistent phase-field approach that can describe arbitrarily complex crack paths and captures the full coupling between Li-ion diffusion, stress,…
We study atomistically the fracture of single crystal silicon at atomically sharp notches with opening angles of 0 degrees (a crack), 70.53 degrees, 90 degrees and 125.3 degrees. Such notches occur in silicon that has been formed by etching…
When the DNA double helix is subjected to external forces it can stretch elastically to elongations reaching 100% of its natural length. These distortions, imposed at the mesoscopic or macroscopic scales, have a dramatic effect on…
The complex configurations of dynamic friction patterns-regarding real time contact areas- are transformed into appropriate networks. With this transformation of a system to network space, many properties can be inferred about the structure…