Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 148304 (2002) [4 pages]Cracks and Crazes: On Calculating the Macroscopic Fracture Energy of Glassy Polymers from Molecular SimulationsReceived 30 November 2001; published 16 September 2002 We combine molecular dynamics simulations of deformation at the submicron scale with a simple continuum fracture mechanics model for the onset of crack propagation to calculate the macroscopic fracture energy of amorphous glassy polymers. Key ingredients in this multiscale approach are the elastic properties of polymer crazes and the stress at which craze fibrils fail through chain pullout or scission. Our results are in quantitative agreement with dimensionless ratios that describe experimental polymers and their variation with temperature, polymer length, and polymer rigidity. © 2002 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.148304
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.148304
PACS:
82.35.Lr, 62.20.Mk, 83.60.Uv
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