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.
1 More- Received 17 February 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.71.055102
©2005 American Physical Society