Steady-state cracking in brittle substrates beneath adherent films: revisited

TL;DR

This paper re-examines steady-state cracking in brittle substrates beneath adherent films using the Suo and Hutchinson method, extending analysis to a wider range of substrate-to-film thickness ratios for better predictive accuracy.

Contribution

It provides new calculations for crack behavior across a broader range of thickness ratios, enhancing the original method with updated data and comprehensive tables.

Findings

Results for multiple thickness ratios are presented.

The extended data set improves understanding of crack initiation.

Tables and figures facilitate practical application.

Abstract

This is a technical note aiming at the re-examination of the phenomenon of the steady-state cracking in the two-layer system. The method of Suo and Hutchinson, as introduced in their 1989 paper, is followed. Our solution is compared with the one appearing in that paper for the substrate-to-film thickness ratio $\lambda_0=10$. We obtain results at three $\lambda_0<10$ values. Combined with the results for $\lambda_0=10$, the new sets of values cover thickness ratios between 1 and 10, sufficient for determining crack initiation and propagation in almost every relevant problem. We present our results in tables (and figures), thus facilitating their implementation and use.