title: Branching mechanism of intergranular crack propagation in three dimensions.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Center for Promotion of Computational Science and Engineering, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Higashiueno 6-9-3, Tokyo 110-0015, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Itakura
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaburaki
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arakawa