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Cracking a Tough Nut* with a big Computer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

Farid F. Abraham ,
D. Schneider ,
B. Land ,
D. Lifka ,
J. Skovira ,
J. Gerner  and
M. Rosenkrantzt
Farid F. Abraham
Affiliation:
IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120–6099, [email protected]
M. Rosenkrantzt
Affiliation:
Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY, 14853–3801
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Abstract

We have simulated the dynamical failure of three-dimensional notched solids under tension using molecular dynamics and up to 100 million atoms. We discovered a dynamical brittle-to-ductile transition in the rapid cleavage of rare-gas solids when the crack velocity approaches one-third of the Rayleigh sound speed. At this transition, the crack tip has already begun to roughen on the atomic scale. This suggests that the brittle crack undergoes a dynamic instability which immediately leads to the initiation of plastic failure by the spontaneous emission and proliferation of dislocations and crack arrest.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 463: Symposia EE – Statistical Mechanics in Physics and Biology , 1996 , 187
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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Footnotes

*

NUT: nanocrystal under tension. We make note of P-G. de Gennes comment “…refrain from immediately resorting to a jackhammer to break open a hazelnut without first checking for an incipient crack on the surface of the shell.” in Fragile Objects (Copernicus, NY, 1996).

References

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