The threshold for subcritical crack growth
Gregory Rodin (ICES,UT Austin)
Crack initiation and growth: methods, applications, and challenges
Tue 10:45 - 12:15
Sayles Auditorium
The premise of this talk is that the conventionally definition for the threshold for sub-critical crack growth is based on flawed logic. Actually, I will present a simple argument showing that the conventional definition requires the threshold to be equal to zero. Then, I will adopt thermodynamic analysis of brittle fracture specimens near the threshold developed by J. R. Rice in and extend it to specimens undergoing microstructural changes. The proposed extension gives rise to a generalization of the threshold concept that mirrors the way the R-curve generalizes the fracture toughness. In the absence of experimental data, the R-curve near the threshold is constructed using a basic lattice model.