Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2148–2151 (1997)Crack Front Propagation and Fracture in a Graphite Sheet: A Molecular-Dynamics Study on Parallel ComputersReceived 29 October 1996; published in the issue dated 17 March 1997 Crack propagation in a graphite sheet is investigated with million atom molecular-dynamics simulations based on Brenner's reactive empirical bond-order potential. For certain crystalline orientations, multiple crack branches with nearly equal spacing sprout as the crack tip reaches a critical speed of 0.6VR, where VR is the Rayleigh wave speed. This results in a fracture surface with secondary branches and overhangs. Within the same branch the crack-front profile is characterized by a roughness exponent, α = 0.41±0.05. However, for interbranch fracture surface profiles the return probability yields α = 0.71±0.10. Fracture toughness is estimated from Griffith analysis and local-stress distributions. © 1997 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.2148
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.2148
PACS:
62.20.Mk, 61.20.Ja, 61.43.Hv, 81.40.Np
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