Branching mechanism of intergranular crack propagation in three dimensions.
We investigate the process of slow intergranular crack propagation by the finite element method model and show that branching is induced by partial arresting of a crack front owing to the geometrical randomness of grain boundaries. A possible scenario for the branching instability of crack propagation in a disordered continuous medium is also discussed.
Itakura
M
M
Center for Promotion of Computational Science and Engineering, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Higashiueno 6-9-3, Tokyo 110-0015, Japan.
Kaburaki
H
H
Arakawa
C
C