Phase transition in a spring-block model of surface fracture

TL;DR

This paper introduces a spring-block model to study surface fracture, revealing a phase transition in crack patterns and fragment sizes as stress parameters change, with implications for understanding fracture processes.

Contribution

A new threshold-based spring-block model uncovers a phase transition in surface crack morphology and statistics under varying stress conditions.

Findings

Crack morphology transitions from short-range to long-range correlations.

Fragment-size distribution exhibits power-law behavior near the transition.

Stress release analysis provides insights into the cracking process.

Abstract

A simple and robust spring-block model obeying threshold dynamics is introduced to study surface fracture of an overlayer subject to stress induced by adhesion to a substrate. We find a novel phase transition in the crack morphology and fragment-size statistics when the strain and the substrate coupling are varied. Across the transition, the cracks display in succession short-range, power-law and long-range correlations. The study of stress release prior to cracking yields useful information on the cracking process.