title: Self-healing slip pulses along a gel/glass interface.
abstract: We present experimental evidence of self-healing shear cracks at a gel/glass interface. This system exhibits two dynamical regimes depending on the driving velocity: steady sliding at high velocity (>V(c) approximately 100--125 microm/s), characterized by a shear-thinning rheology, and periodic stick-slip dynamics at low velocity. In this last regime, slip occurs by propagation of pulses that restick via a "healing instability" occurring when the local sliding velocity reaches the macroscopic transition velocity V(c). At driving velocities close below V(c), the system exhibits complex spatiotemporal behavior.
authors.affiliation: Groupe de Physique des Solides, Universités Paris 6 et 7, UMR CNRS 7588, 2 place Jussieu, 75251 Paris, Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Tristan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baumberger
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caroli
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ronsin