title: Disorder and plasticity in the fragmentation of coatings.
abstract: Using a one-dimensional model that takes into account ideal plasticity of the surface layer, we investigate the fragmentation of thin coatings under uniaxial tension. The coating is modeled as a chain of plastically deforming elements that are connected via leaf springs to a uniformly stretched substrate. Each coating element can only withstand a maximum elongation, which is randomly distributed. From simulations of the fragmentation process we find that the average crack spacing <L> scales with applied strain epsilon, i.e., <L> proportional to epsilon(-kappa). Simulations and analytical arguments show that the scaling exponent kappa depends on the disorder parameters of the model.
authors.affiliation: Theoretical Polymer Physics, University of Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Strasse 3, 79104 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
authors.forename: U A
authors.initials: UA
authors.lastname: Handge
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Sokolov
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blumen