Molecular-dynamics study of ductile and brittle fracture in model noncrystalline solids

ML Falk, PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 60, 7062-7070 (1999).

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.60.7062

Molecular-dynamics simulations of fracture in systems akin to metallic glasses are observed to undergo embrittlement due to a small change in interatomic potential. This change in fracture toughness, however, is not accompanied by a corresponding change in flow stress. Theories of brittle fracture proposed by Freund and Hutchinson indicate that strain rate sensitivity is the controlling physical parameter in these cases. A recent theory of viscoplasticity in this class of solids by Falk and Langer further suggests that the change in strain rate sensitivity corresponds to a change in the susceptibility of local sheer transformation zones to applied shear stresses. A simple model of these zones is developed in order to quantify the dependence of this sensitivity on the interparticle potential. S0163-1829(99)09733-7.

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